Business

OCEAN PINES — Mariners’ Country Down carries with it a bit of local legend and a significant amount of local history. And this summer it will be one of the places from which the produce comes for the Ocean Pines Farmers Market, which opens next weekend in White Horse Park. Christine McDowell, who will be the market manager, is also proprietor of The Good Farm, a local CSA and organic produce concern. As her reach in the community grew, she sought out more land on which to raise the vegetables and livestock that her regular customers have come to expect. It was almost by chance that she crossed paths with the people who own Mariners’ Country Down and was allowed by them to begin using some of their land. Mariners’ Country Down used to be a major craft village but now acts as the family homestead. The family members, though, wanted to put the fecund land to use and McDowell wanted land to use. It was a perfect fit. With the help of Ric Gresia running the opera...

BERLIN — There are two essential parts to rehabilitation: having the initial therapy and strengthening the afflicted area to prevent relapse and improve overall health. The difficulty for many patients is that after insurance pays for the therapy, the insured is often left to their own devices for the continued, if necessary work. The disconnect between therapies covered by insurance and the real healing work that ought to continue afterwards never made a lot of sense to Bobby Hammond, who owns Atlantic Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine in the Pines Plaza. But as the owner of Atlantic Health and Fitness, the gym adjoining the therapy office, he was in a unique position to do something about it. He began adding an additional month of access to the gym at no extra charge once patients finished their therapeutic course. As a result, not only have patients' physical therapy improvements been longer-lasting and more stable, but many have elected to stay on beyond the month to con...

SNOW HILL — The success of The Palette, the restaurant owned and run by Phil Cropper over the last three years, has been primarily the result of commitment to local, quality food. Because it is centrally located, the Green Street restaurant has established a reputation with diners in every direction, drawing people from Salisbury as well as the greater Berlin area and Pocomoke. When he opens The Palette Pantry this week as part of the monthly Snow Hill First Friday event, Cropper will deepen the town’s retail appeal by complementing without competing with the other area area shops. Although the town has no shortage of restaurants each has its own niche, and Cropper expects to capitalize on his niche by providing what might be best called a take-out DIY experience. The hard work that was so critical to the restaurant’s success had to do with Cropper's commitment to making as much as was reasonable from scratch using local sources. The result was distinctive spice bl...

BERLIN — The one thing that Richard and Debbie Seaton agree on without question is that it is nice to have a little breathing space. As the owner and person primarily responsible for running Toy Town Antiques, Debbie is happy not to have to hold her breath every time more than three people are in their shop at once. Until last week, Toy Town Antiques occupied a small shop on Main Street’s east side. The store was reasonably stocked, but even so she understood how little of what they had they could safely display. And even though the store wasn’t cluttered, when it was busy there wasn’t a lot of room for customers to move around as they browsed. As the person primarily responsible for filling the shelves in Toy Town Antiques, Richard has developed an excellent understanding of the shopping experience from the perspective of an antiques enthusiast. When you’ve spent as much time as he has haunting different markets and private collections around the countr...

BERLIN — When Jeffrey Auxer started offering Saturday glassblowing classes it was primarily to get people introduced to the art. It started with making Christmas ornaments but quickly grew to include flowers and paper weights and solidly-booked Saturdays. There is something so primitive in the feeling one has molding molten glass into an object and seeing it solidify before one’s eyes.  Watching white-hot sand transform into pure art is experience no amount of scientific understanding or practical or even spiritual knowledge can quite get at. It’s an experience that people not only begin to crave but are also bound to want to share and Auxer said it is not uncommon for people to bring friends back or to return time and again until they’ve completed all of the available projects. But working the glass is only a small part of the attraction of Jeffrey Auxer Designs on Jefferson Street. Auxer said that he regularly schedules demonstrations for groups, at no ...

BERLIN — The primary notion behind small town chamber’s of commerce is to promote their area not only as a retail destination, but also to develop business-to-business opportunities within their membership. Over the past several years, the Berlin Chamber of Commerce has become even more aggressive in conceiving and fostering opportunities and events that have helped to position Berlin as one of the most economically stable and successful Towns in the region. “In Berlin, we’re becoming more of a destination community,” said Chamber Executive Director Olive Mawyer. “Being a member gives businesses more opportunity and exposure.” For the Berlin Chamber, success is as much about partnering with both the Town and other interested parties — such as the Main Street Merchants Association — as it is in developing networking opportunities for members to get to know one another and see where their common interests are. Linda Dearing, who ow...

BERLIN — Peggy Hagy and her son Jason started the Berlin Coffee House in what has so far been one of the worse years to open a business this century. As they prepare to celebrate their third year in business, the almost feel ready to breathe a sigh of relief. “We’ve really gotten to a good place as far as our customer base and the way we run things,” Peggy said. Although it is almost obligatory to credit one’s customers upon achieving a certain level of success, anyone who cares to poke their head through the door at a certain time on a given day will see familiar faces. Early on, the two planned to focus on being the open all year and cultivating a community presence that has become a thing of the past in many coffee establishments. From the first they emphasized local music and local art, bought products from local purveyors and made people feel as if they were welcome to linger over coffee or tea. This last part was particularly important, as it h...

WEST OCEAN CITY — Giuseppe O’Leary’s is just the right kind of dark for a pub. The dining area that doubles almost as an anteroom filters the light from the street such that the pub can be lit by that, the televisions and the fireplace alone should the mood require it. The fireplace, set against the far wall is flanked by two generously stuffed leather chairs. The chairs, though, are low-backed, dismissing at once any suggestion of clubbiness. This is a pub. “Giuseppe O’Leary’s” is only a partially ironic name. When they opened it nearly three years ago, the Lobue family wanted to marry the strengths of two cultures — Italian cuisine and Irish Public House. The emphasis behind the bar is on quality beer, the emphasis at the table is the kind of Italian cuisine that can be measured on its own, rather than only regionally. “Everything hear is homemade,” Nick, the elder Lobue said. From the sauces to the various pastas and ever...

WEST OCEAN CITY — Peggy Hammond is perfectly at ease in one of the swivel chairs just off the styling floor at Avery Hair Salon. Her surroundings are a paradox of stark modernity and personal coziness. Call it comfortable-chic. She joked that several of her friends have asked when she is going to paint the salon she and her die-hard employees occupied after moving form their former Golf Course Road salon.  Hammond explained to them that the white paint and muted silver ceilings represent completeness. There is a good reason for this. Anyone who had the pleasure of visiting the Avery Gallery in its old digs, can testify to the place’s cavern quality. Set up like an art gallery, and often confused with one, the place gave patrons plenty of room to be the focus of their experience. In the smaller space, overdecorating would amount to inducing claustrophobia. The salon experience generally should be a personal one. The client is the focus and their is no need to distra...

BERLIN — Setting aside the fight to prevent and cure disease, the medical watchword — phrase, really — of the decade is pain management. Advances in nutrition and healthcare have allowed Americans to be more active for longer than ever before. But with expanded life-expectancy and the quality of life that it tends to inspire, dealing with aches and pains that range from nagging to debilitating, is a continually rising concern. While pharmacology hasn’t progressed much beyond aspirin or narcotics or some combination of the two, strides in physical therapy have continually allowed patients to rethink what is possible in terms of their comfort and mobility will into their senior years. But stretches and exercises can only take a person so far. Worse, decreased mobility means that many are not agile enough to get the maximum benefit from the physical therapy routines that can and do relieve pain. Physical therapy is one of the most practical treatment regimens st...