Shop Local Delmarva - The beginning, the future

Mar 01, 2021

You Eat Out A LOT

A little about me first. I consider myself fortunate, blessed, lucky maybe all to grow up in such a giving and caring community - Delmarva. I was born and raised in Pocomoke and lucky to have a wonderful family. I remember both sets of my grandparents being really involved in our community. Growing up here on Delmarva as a kid could be annoying since everyone knew everything, but actually it was really great... we just didn't know it. Everyone looked out for their neighbors and their friends. Erica and I bought our first home in Pocomoke, and later moved to Salisbury where we live now.

There are so many things that I enjoy doing...and I love to eat! Actually we love going out to eat, and I enjoy talking with everyone. So starting a group about supporting local businesses, local restaurants and featuring food that I was going around eating, was pretty easy. Starting a group to highlight and promote the wonderful area that I love...yep easy.

It has been just about a year since Shop Local Delmarva the group was started on Facebook, and I have met countless business owners and people in our community. I have talked about how the group started a number of times, and thinking back I couldn't have imagined how a simple group created to support our local businesses and our community has been such a great resource.  But I hear it daily.

Certain, uncertainty.

That is really why it all started. It was the only thing that was certain...that everything was uncertain. We could all relate to that one thing no one knew. When the pandemic began there was a lot of panic. Many larger employers started laying people off and it was a scary time to be a business owner. It was a scary time to be a doctor, or a nurse, or a child, a student; it was scary time for everyone. The uncertainty was the only thing that we woke up to each morning, if you could get to sleep at all. I had a number of nights watching the news and finding myself awake at 2 or 3 am just in disbelief of what I was seeing and hearing.

Many restaurants and businesses were forced to shut down, and it is impossible to describe the look that you saw in people's faces. Finding out if your business was deemed essential or not, wasn't something anyone had planned for. Spending money that had been earmarked for other things just to keep the doors open, also wasn't planned for. Taking loans or borrowing money to keep your business open, wasn't planned on. In business, you plan to have a bad week, or bad month... no one planned for what happened.   

The hoarding.

People were scared and began hoarding basic necessities, and it became tough to to find simple things such as milk, meats, bread, eggs, and I know TP! Who would have thought??  What about people who couldn't get things?

What can we do?

Spread some kindness. Treat people the way that you want to be treated or even better. Make just a small effort to do something kind for someone else. Eat out...Take pictures and share them. This really was what started it all. Taking some simple pictures and sharing some positive things with the hopes it would take off and encourage more people to do the same. And it did.

The future.

This new website is going to be filled with valuable information for our community. We will have many local contributors sharing their areas of expertise with you. Our directory is full of businesses, and business supporters, partners and sponsors. Our community events section is free for you to add events to let others on Delmarva know. We will share videos from local businesses, as well as many other highlights of places on Delmarva! What exactly will Shop Local Delmarva become? It is uncertain because we are still growing. But it is certain it will continue to help the many businesses and our local community here on Delmarva!

David