For anyone who loved Kathleen Kelly’s The Shop Around the Corner in “You’ve Got Mail” (my personal favorite 1990s romcom, referenced in our September 2022 story on “griffin”), the pangs may feel familiar—except this time it’s a favorite shop that’s closing in real life and a loved-by-all shop owner who is moving on to a new chapter. After 14 years in business in Great Barrington (with five different locations over the years), Connie Griffin recently announced on Instagram that she would be closing her retail store at 4 Railroad Street on November 30.
“Of course, I’ll miss the people,” she says, “but it’s also time for something new. This is the longest stint I’ve had doing one thing, and I’m leaving with great friends and connections and so many memories.” As locals and visitors alike know, her taste and style are impeccable, and she makes everyone who enters the door feel like a friend. One customer, learning of the closing, shared, “I love your store. It’s always been a favorite. I never know what I’ll find here, except that I’ll find you, and you always know what I like.”
People came to “griffin” to shop, enjoy themselves, connect with others, and often work during a transition. “Over the years, we employed so many different people that worked in town or were between things—including Carla Blades, Emma Blair, Lily Massee and her mother Ellen, Oona Selew, and Izak Zenou, illustrator for Henri Bendel,” she recalls. “I also loved having so many opportunities to connect different people,” she adds. (Griffin connected me to Kenzie Fields five years ago when she was just starting in real estate—and we were Kenzie’s first buyers!)
“I got this really lovely message from Gretchen Mol (actor/newly minted dress designer) when she heard the news, saying that ‘griffin’ was the kind of store that made her able to find whatever she needed, like she did in Manhattan,” she continues. “We offered Gretchen some styling and accessorizing assistance for her shoot and shortly after invited her to do her first pop up in the store sometime in November. She was thrilled—and what a nice swan song for ‘griffin’!”
Looking back, Griffin savors how often “random amazing people came in.” When contemporary artist Mickalene Thomas walked into her store, she had no idea who she was. “I invited her to a book party we were holding at the store, and she asked, ‘Why don’t you do a book party for me?’” She soon became very familiar with Thomas’s work, which often features paintings involving rhinestones, acrylic, and enamel.
While she has no regrets, Griffin admits some challenges made staying in business disheartening at times. One challenge was keeping up with rising rents. “Most people don’t realize how expensive it is to lease space in town,” she says. “It costs me $60,000 a year just to open my doors, and retail business in the Berkshires can be very unpredictable.” (Griffin is not the only Railroad Street merchant to feel the sting of property owners pushing up prices.)
A more specific summer challenge has been losing customers during the peak 4 to 6 p.m. weekend shopping hours when Berkshire Busk requires Railroad Street to close to accommodate entertainers setting up. “Several merchants tried to raise awareness of how the arrangement was affecting our businesses, but after sitting through a 90-minute meeting at Town Hall, we were only allowed to speak for two minutes,” she notes. “At the core, we have to ask, ‘What kind of community do we want to be—one that supports the local people who live here and are committed to helping the community and economy, or something else?’”
Griffin shares that she’s always loved reusing clothing and appreciated the value of things, whether holding onto them, passing them down, or reselling them—an idea she helped pioneer that’s become a widely accepted mindset. “I always had new and vintage side by side, combining them to create something unique,” she explains. She’s glad to see that vintage clothing is having its day and that used clothing has shed its former stigma (ThredUp, Poshmark, and Amazon Preloved Clothes, among countless others, are all evidence of that). “People are living more consciously now,” she believes. “I’ve always loved knowing where things come from and telling the stories of the pieces I find. I think we’re all storytellers at heart.”
What’s next for Griffin? “I love to work and have met so many cool people in this community with amazing resources and power,” she says, not ready to pinpoint anything specific so soon. But there’s the dream of something else—a new chapter of her story that she’ll know when she finds it.
And for the store? “Nothing is settled yet, but it’s our hope that Pamela Sarmiento of Gold Digger Sustainable Fashion can take the reins and have her business there,” Griffin responds. “I invited Pamela in to pop up when she lost her space last November, and it worked out so well we continued.”
“This is so much more than a store,” she acknowledges. “There’s so much magic that goes on just working here and meeting people in your community. It’s how I met everyone who means something to me.”
The end of November will soon be upon us, but there’s still time to stop in “griffin”—to shop, to talk, to introduce Connie Griffin to your mom or neighbor or best friend, to find that dress or sweater with a story to tell, or to find a memento to remember your beloved store and curator. Or maybe just to say “thank you so much!” one more time.