WEST OCEAN CITY — It takes a certain amount of confidence in both your business and your regular clientele to pick up an move after 10 years in the same place. But after a little more than a week in their new Ocean City digs John Meyers and Ron Saunders, owners of the Monkey’s Trunk… Read more »

PITTSVILLE — Mount Vernon native Robert Taylor has been trapping muskrat for the better part of his 72 years. He rises early, even for a farmer, and heads out to start checking his traps. During muskrat season, which ends in March, he will be able to sell as many as he can catch to Dave… Read more »

OCEAN PINES — When Elizabeth Stout opened Elisabeth’s Treasures two years ago she was completely content with occupying the bottom half of the converted split level home between Ocean Parkway and Manklin Meadows Lane, but had her eye on the upstairs. Stout wanted the second floor not so much because it would provide her additional… Read more »

OCEAN PINES — Woodlands owner Rick Handelman had a devilish look in his eye as he approached the front desk. “Watch this, they hate this,” he said waiving his hand in front of the three-foot-tall Santa standing guard next to the desk.  “They” were the staff and residents at the Woodlands and the result of… Read more »

WEST OCEAN CITY — Somewhere there is an old photograph of a very young Chuck Dondero messing with the display in his family’s Boardwalk shop. While it’s not, strictly speaking, a point of dispute, Dondero claims he was showing his budding talent as a stock boy, arranging the items for sale. His wife, Linda, claims… Read more »

BERLIN — While the big retailers inch Black Friday forward in an attempt to stretch the holiday shopping rush, small retailers are taking the opposite tack with the help of an unlikely sponsor: American Express. Last year the credit card company inaugurated Small Business Saturday to highlight supporting small local businesses not only as part… Read more »

 WEST OCEAN CITY — The upside to the economic downturn is that it gives entrepreneurs not only the opportunity but also the means to strike out on their own in establishing a new business. It was, in fact, a primary motivator for Jill Ferger and her mother, Joan Ferger, in establishing the Six Eleven Salon… Read more »

BERLIN — What started out as an alternate way of carving pumpkins for his children’s class projects has turned into a cottage industry for carver Kenny Bliss. When he began carving pumpkins professionally, he was working at the Dough Roller in Ocean City and convinced his bosses to commission one from him. The project took… Read more »

By Tony Russo Staff Writer BERLIN — Earlier this month new banking regulations went into effect limiting the amount a bank could charge a merchant for accepting debit cards. Each time a merchant swipes a card, the bank that processes the charge takes a fee. Depending upon the bank, the merchant’s volume and other factors,… Read more »

BISHOPVILLE — As Halloween approaches, the paper spiders used as decorations are a reminder of how pervasive the creatures really are, especially at this time of year. What makes people so concerned about the arachnids is that, without a specialized degree, it is difficult to tell the dangerous ones from the others. For example, there… Read more »