Grocery

On Saturday, Gordon's Grocery, at 101 Cypress St. in Hagerstown, will hold a wine tasting from 1 to 4 p.m. to benefit the Humane Society of Washington County. Attendees are asked to bring pet items, such as blankets, toys, kitty litter and food for the animals housed at the shelter. The event will be hosted by John Gordon. "We have wanted to do something for a long time," Gordon said. "We discussed this with Shawn Clopper of Monument Fine Wines and this seemed to be a great idea.

After just four years, entrepreneur and elected official Ashley C. Haywood said she is closing her business, Skyline Coffee Co., to focus on another, more successful venture, Skyline Food Source. Haywood was unavailable for comment this week on the announcement of her business closing. However, she sent a letter to the editor of The Herald-Mail detailing the change. "I am happy to say that the (coffee) shop will be closed for good at the end of October," she wrote in her letter to the editor.

The Greencastle-Antrim Chamber of Commerce on Thursday named Barry Kline of Kline's Grocery as the 2011 James P. Oliver Award recipient for his community service. In 1977, Kline joined the Shady Grove, Pa., grocery store that was started by his father, Ray Kline, more than 50 years ago. The business is known for its meats and bakery. Kline, 52, is involved with a host of organizations and causes, including the Shady Grove Ruritan Club, scholarships for Shady Grove residents, Rescue Hose Co., Nittany Lion Club and Penn State's "Thon," and the Fisher House Foundation for housing veterans and military families.

Area military personnel, active and retired, including National Guard members and their dependents, are enjoying bargain prices this weekend shopping for groceries and big-screen televisions at an on-site commissary sale at the West Virginia Air National Guard 167th Airlift Wing. Among the long lines of customers Saturday were retired Marine Master Sgt. Jesse Englehart, a Korean War veteran, and his wife, Betty Englehart, of Smithsburg. "We try to shop at the commissary at Fort Detrick as much as we can," Betty Englehart said.

The Berkeley County Council voted unanimously Thursday to recruit a "clerk of the works" to act as the county's on-site representative for the planned renovation of the former Martin's grocery store in Martinsburg. The building is being renovated to house the sheriff's law-enforcement division, which is currently headquartered at 802 Emmett Rousch Drive, where deputies work in cramped conditions.  The division shares the building with 911/Central Dispatch and the county's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, which officials say also need additional space.

Editor's note: This is the seventh in a series about neighborhood grocery stores. There was a time when Smithsburg Market was just another mom and pop grocery store — nothing special because there were so many more just like it. Now, those stores mostly exist in memories. That's what makes this small business on South Main Street special. It has with- stood the test of time. It was about 30 years ago when the store opened its doors to customers. Since then, it has found a new location on the opposite side of the street It also has had several owners and more competition for the dollar.

Storage space for property seized or recovered by Berkeley County Sheriff's deputies was "overflowing" the day the agency's law-enforcement division moved into their current headquarters at 802 Emmett Rousch Drive about 20 years ago, Sheriff Kenneth Lemaster Jr. recalled Thursday. Given the space limitations, not only for evidence storage, but the agency's growing roster of deputies, Lemaster said he is "very happy" with the Berkeley County Council's decision to move forward with a plan to convert the former Martin's grocery store along South Raleigh Street into the agency's new, larger headquarters.

War Memorial Hospital's Center for Rehab & Wellness will offer a free nutrition program "Virtual Grocery Store Tour" on Monday, June 13, at 4:30 p.m. Sara Kuykendall, a registered and licensed dietitian with Valley Health, will discuss strategies for making healthy food purchases.  The class is open to the public, but class size is limited. War Memorial Hospital's Center for Rehab & Wellness is located at 261 Berkmore Place, Suite 2A,...

The Berkeley County Council took the first steps Thursday to relocate the sheriff's Department's law-enforcement division to a vacant shopping plaza that the county purchased in 2007. By a unanimous vote, the council reversed a surplus property order that had positioned the 5.5-acre plaza in the 500 block of South Raleigh Street to be sold at public auction. A second unanimous vote Thursday authorized council President William L. "Bill" Stubblefield to sign a resolution to convert a City National Bank loan that was obtained to purchase the shopping plaza to a long-term building bond.

Editor's note: This is a first in a monthly series about neighborhood grocery stores. The lament of shop owner Frank Corsi Jr. went beyond the expected reminiscing about when penny candy really cost a penny and soda fountain drinks cost a dime. It's the people coming into Corsi's Market, said Corsi, the corner store's 77-year-old owner, as he looked across the semi-filled store shelves to a vacant soda fountain counter. "That soda counter used to be full," Corsi said.