Business

OCEAN PINES — Offering items “half off its lowest price” is the motto of Joe Laque, co-owner of The Trading Post at Ocean Pines, a new shop off Cathell Road. The Trading Post will open Saturday, allowing customers to buy, sell or trade for anything in the building. The idea is to feature a multitude of contractor tools and materials in the back, while the front carries products for the home and leisure. Laque, who shares ownership with his wife, Donna, ensures that everything available at the store will be at least 40-50 percent off the average price of the same thing at other retail stores. “If I can buy it and sell it, I will,” he said, explaining that his approach is to buy in bulk from businesses around the area. Because the bulk purchase lowers the price per unit, he applies that discount to his own prices. The result has been a variety of items from musical instruments, to sporting equipment and even rare and unique items such as the...

BERLIN — Marking the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, artist Kevin Fitzgerald will officially open his latest showing in the Water’s Edge Gallery on Friday, Sept. 21. The exhibit represents both the American Civil War conflict’s significance to American history and to the artist’s own personal life, as well. At 9 years old, Fitzgerald’s parents brought him to the site of the battle at Sharpsburg, Md. on the eve of the battle’s 100th anniversary in 1962. While picnicking under a tree next to Burnside Bridge, Fitzgerald was so taken away by the scene that he later said it was a major turning point in his life. “The bridge is so beautiful. Seeing the manmade structure surrounded by nature, I was taken away,” Fitzgerald said. It was at that moment that he derived some artistic thoughts from the scene, he said. “The combination of man and nature, is a metaphor to how America united after the war,” he said. There...

BERLIN – For more than 50 years, members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Berlin have followed their mission to reach out to those in need via their Church Mouse Thrift Shop on North Main Street in Berlin. Strictly selling items that have been donated to the church, clothes, household items, jewelry, books and collectables are among the many products sold at an affordable price. “We take pride in keeping the shop clean, organized and offer products that are gently used and often some new items. Some are one of a kind,” said Helen Wiley, coordinator of Church Mouse Thrift Shop. Wiley has been running the store for about six years with the assistance of her husband, Mike, who is also the chairperson of the Berlin Parks Commission. “I’m kind of the informal utility guy,” he said. The couple moved from Annapolis to Berlin after retiring seven years ago and they have learned what customers want and expect to find at a thrift shop. Many other ...

BERLIN — Starting Friday, Sept. 7, Sisters on North Main Street will invite members of nonprofit organizations once a month to be guest bartenders to raise money for their charities. “This was our idea of giving back to the community,” said Donna Compher, who co-owns Sisters with her — what else— sister, Michael Ann Phillips. Every first Friday of the month, the guest bartenders from a different organization will serve beer and wine from 7-9 p.m. There will also be appetizers made by the owners. “This is exactly why we got a bigger store,” Compher said. She said it has always been their wish to organize large-scale events. This month’s guest bartenders will be Berlin Mayor Gee Williams and Michael Day, economic and community development director of Berlin, who represent Main Street Berlin. “It’s going to be a fun and easy night,” Day said. “I’d like to see it succeed and we’ll help promote it.̶...

BERLIN — Downtown Berlin’s newest restaurant, Tex Mex & Beyond on North Main Street, will celebrate its grand opening this weekend, starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 1. Owned by Berlin businessman Ernest Gerardi, the restaurant will feature authentic Mexican southwestern foods inspired by chef Arturo Paz’s Latin-American heritage. “The ‘Beyond’ part describes any creative cuisine that compliments the food,” Paz said. A chef for 22 years, Paz designed menus for many reputable restaurants throughout the country, including some that are popular dining spots among Hollywood celebrities — the Republic Restaurant & Lounge in West Hollywood, Calif., Karu & Y in Miami and Phillips Seafood in both Baltimore and Atlantic City, N.J. Locally, Paz helped create menus for Evolution Craft Brewing Company’s restaurants, Public House and Sobo’s Wine Beerstro in Salisbury, and the recently opened OC Steamers i...

BERLIN — This Sunday, Burley Oak Brewing Company will hold a party celebrating the release of its first bottled beer to be sold at the brewery’s bar and brewing headquarters on Old Ocean City Boulevard. “It was in our plan to bottle within our first year,” said owner Bryan Brushmiller, who wanted to sell bottles to the public at its one-year anniversary party last Sunday that brought more than 300 visitors throughout the day, but was not able to because of difficulties attributed to Saturday’s flood. Bunker C, a porter aged in bourbon barrels for six months, will be the brewery’s first beer to be bottled. It will come in a 750 milliliter champagne bottle. While the bottles will only be available at the combined brewery and bar for now, the heads of Burley Oak Brewing Company are in process of signing paperwork with a distributor to sell bottles and draft beer at businesses all over Maryland and Washington D.C. “There will be beer from Berli...

BERLIN -- While many are attracted to visit the multitude of shops on Berlin's Main Street, plenty of highly regarded retail shops exist off the main road and many don't even require a great number of footsteps to reach. Serving fresh coffee, tea, baked goods and ice cream, among other things, is the focus of Jason Hagy and his mother Peggy, owners of Berlin Coffee House on Jefferson Street. "The Globe used to be a coffee house. Then it was sold and we realized that it was a huge market that had been eliminated. It was either us or somebody else who was going to open up a new place," said Hagy, who owned a landscaping company before going into business with his mom. When the business opened in 2009, its operators have been adamant to keep products sold as local as possible. Teas are served that were blended in Cambridge, Md. and the coffee is roasted in Lewis, Del, which is just a bit out of town, but the ice cream served at the coffee house comes from Chesapeake Bay Farm...

BERLIN — With the traditional summer season coming to a close, the owners of Bustle, a new bridal boutique shop on South Main Street, continue their attempt to make Berlin a year-round wedding destination with the “Say I Do” bridal expo Saturday, Sept. 29. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., a section of Main Street next to the Atlantic Hotel will be blocked off while about 25 vendors from the area offer their wedding-oriented goods and services. “These type of events help put us on the map,” said Jennifer Davis, who co-owns Bustle with her mom Kathy Walsh. Sponsored by Main Street Berlin, many vendors will be from the downtown Berlin area. Three fashion shows will also take place throughout the day, split into separate themes: vintage, trousseau and bridal. The vintage fashion show begins at 11 a.m. and will be simply for fun, while displaying decades-old outfits previously worn by local women. Both the trousseau fashion show, which starts at 1 p.m. and incorpor...

We recently had some clients ask us what private equity was because they had heard the term used in the news recently. Like shares of stock, private equity embodies an ownership interest in a company. Unlike stocks, however, private aequity investments aren’t listed or traded on a public exchange. Private equity firms often are more directly involved with management of the business than the normal shareholder. And, private equity usually entails a long-term focus before investments begin to produce any consequential cash flow (if ever). It also typically requires a hefty investment and is available only to qualified investors such as wealthy individuals, pension funds, and institutions. Private equity can also take different structures:  “Mezzanine financing” happens when private investors lend money to an established company in exchange for a share in the company (if the loan isn’t repaid on time). Many times, it’s used to finance growth or a...

(Ed. note: This is part one of a two-part series spotlighting two establishments not even a quarter of a mile apart on Cathell Road that have offered locally-produced goods for years: Country Barn Seafood and the Harvest Grove Garden Market). BERLIN — Country Barn Seafood, co-owned by Charles “Speedy” Voss, sells quality carryout seafood. Maryland Blue Crabs are Voss’ specialty, which he promises will be more “hot ‘n’ heavy” and “hard and fat” than the crabs served at more popular venues around town. The specific blue crab sold at Country Barn Seafood is bigger and sweeter than most crabs served at restaurants in the area, according to Voss, who got his nickname after being born within minutes of reaching the hospital. Not only is the quality of crabs notable, but also the process in sorting crabs for purchase. Voss measures the crabs individually and separates them into two piles by size. Crabs deemed large enough are p...