By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
NORTHAMPTON - Ownership at Pride & Joy, the retail store on Crafts Avenue that has acted as a hub for the local gay community for over 17 years, changed hands last week. The shop's new owners say they want their customers to know it will be business as usual.
Three friends, Melissa Barchardt, Kelly Wagoner and Jeff Weelock, bought the business from Mark Carmien, who has owned and operated the 20 Crafts Ave. shop for the last six years. Carmien said he made the difficult decision to sell the popular store in order to pursue a career in real estate.
Barchardt, Wagoner and Weelock moved here from Orlando, Fla., and plan to use their combined 35-plus years of retail experience to maintain the store's success. The shop was on the market for $50,000, but Barchardt did not say how much the buyers paid.
"We were looking for a gay-friendly area to visit, and when we were looking at Northampton online we found Pride & Joy," said Barchardt. "We saw it was for sale on the Internet, and we thought #Hey why not?'"
Although she said they expect to keep the store as it is, Barchardt said the trio's plans for the future include making it easier for out-of-town customers to purchase products online.
"We want to have a much larger Internet presence, but that is all still in the works," Barchardt said. "We are just so thrilled about the store, we are all beside ourselves."
The trio worked together at a supermarket in Florida.
Carmien, meanwhile, decided to end his tenure as shopkeeper in order to pursue a career in real estate.
"I have been working part-time in real estate for about a year now, and I am now going to be doing that as a full-time job," he said.
The support he received from the local community, Carmien said, made his tenure as owner a very successful and equally enjoyable experience.
"This is a much-loved store, and it has always been much more than a retail shop," said Carmien. "It has been a community resource center as well as a hub of the community and a place where people can come to get information about what is going on."
The store, which was founded in 1992, sells gay-related items including newspapers, magazines, books, music, jewelry and clothing.
"It is going to be a seamless transition," Carmien said. "It's as simple as I owned the store this morning and they owned it this afternoon."
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.
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