You can taste blackberry wine here, and espresso. You can browse through 1960s records and hand-dyed yarns, and geodes. Moresi & Associates has drawn more than 40 local businesses to the renovated Norad Mill, with its long corridors of newly refinished wood floors.

Artists have moved into studios with tall windows looking toward Mount Greylock — ceramics and painting, custom metalwork and beer taps. The mill is also the headquarters for Tupelo Press, an independent press in the Berkshires that has won national acclaim.

In the pandemic, local shops in the Norad Mill are open with precautions — mead and berry wines, vintage records, hand-dyed yarns, books, coffee and more.

Fiber artist Betty Vera creates urban landscapes in thread with almost photographic precision. At an open house in early June, she speaks warmly of the community of artists and artisans and entrepreneurs that has grown here.

At the center of the mill, the new Norad Café serves Tunnel City Coffee and sandwiches, and hot soups, says Hannah Klammer, special projects and commercial leasing manager with Moresi. They serve Tunnel City pastries too — Tunnel City has moved their coffee roastery to the mill.

DeMarisco’s Wine Cellar holds tastings in their shop most weekends, she says, for berry wines, meads and ciders. And Moresi has plans for a candy shop, the Candy Mill, with old-time and penny candy, like a general store. Imagine glass jars of stick candy in bright colors, taffy and lollipops in novel shapes.

BTW Berkshires
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