North County

Lucy’s Furniture and Upholstery of Fitchburg received a $15,000 loan from the North Central Massachusetts Development Corp. of Fitchburg, to purchase fabric for furniture repair.

An entity registered to the owners of Piece by Piece Movers of Boston has acquired a 4-acre property including a 67,000 square-foot warehouse at 241 Willard St. in Leominster for $7.2 million.

The Worcester Metropolitan Statistical Area unemployment rate rose to 3.7% in June, up from 3.5% in May, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development on July 26.

VP Auto Repair and Mechanical of Leominster will receive a $50,000 loan for improvements and equipment, approved by the North Central Massachusetts Development Corp. which is the economic development arm of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce in Fitchburg.

Ellen McGovern, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Clinton Savings Bank, has been named board chair of Framingham’s United Way of Tri-County as of Aug. 1.

Communities in Worcester County and neighboring MetroWest communities received $3.4 million in grants from the Massachusetts Shared Streets and Spaces Grant Program for improvements benefitting pedestrians, cyclists, and riders of public transportation.

Lancaster human-services nonprofit RFK Community Alliance, has hired Jessica Pepple to be the organization's first chief diversity and culture officer.

Workers at the unionized Starbucks location in Worcester went on strike Monday, in protest over a suite of benefits the corporation is rolling out to non-unionized workers.

A 20,000-square-foot manufacturing building at 45 Francis St. in Leominster has sold for $1.65 million, according to the Worcester North District Registry of Deeds.

Clinton Savings Bank has hired David Darvish, former vice president of finance at First Seacoast Bank of Dover, N.H., as senior vice president and CFO, effective this past Monday.