THURMONT, Md. (WDVM) — After the rush of Black Friday comes Small Business Saturday and a community in western Maryland is taking a new approach to the shop small movement.
Pop The Shop is a small business pop-up market hosted by Main Street Thurmont and features local home-based businesses with goods ranging from ornaments and wreaths to from-scratch baked goods. Vickie Grinder, Economic Development Manager for the town, explains that the pop-up shop provides community members to explore new businesses that don’t have a physical storefront. She explained that all of the businesses featured in Pop The Shop are home businesses.
“That’s where it all began, cottage industry, hundreds of years ago. It all began at home, people making their home goods or products taking them out to a farmers market,” Grinder explained. “All of these businesses are just as important as any other business. They serve a purpose in our community.”
Jeff and Sharon Kinna run their home decor business, Home Tweet Home, out of a shed in their backyard. Jeff explained that he sources wood pallets and disassembles them so his wife, Sharon, can paint and decorate them. The couple previously only sold their creations at Color Fest, which is held in October, and are happy to have another place to share their work.
“We really appreciate it this year. It’s local and helps the businesses in Thurmont,” Sharon said. “You can come set up, and it can just stay here instead of tearing it down each week. It just can stay here for the next three weeks. So that’s really convenient.”
For some businesses, pop-up events like pop the shop are a step towards a physical storefront. Nikki Jessee and her fiance own and operate Decal Gorilla. While the business specializes in custom decals and other prints like vehicle wraps, they have entered the world of custom ornaments and decorations. Jessee hopes the pop-up shop can lead to more business and an expansion of its company.
“It’s very valuable because we have an opportunity to get out into the community and share our products and really just share our work and our creativity,” Jessee explained. “It is a step towards that because it helps expand us in the community and get the word out there and what we can do.”
Pop The Shop will be running at 21 Main Street in Thurmont every Saturday until December 18th. For more information, please visit the Thurmont Main Street website.
