Buy Local

Baltimore County Encourages Area Consumers to Buy Local

Towson, Md. (May 13, 2009)—

The Baltimore County Department of Economic Development's “ReDiscover Your Neighborhood Downtown” marketing campaign is asking area consumers to do their part to help stimulate the local economy this spring by shopping, dining and spending money at locally-owned, neighborhood businesses.

“As businesses continue to compete for each discretionary dollar, the importance of supporting our local businesses has become even more vital to sustaining our local economy,” stated David S. Iannucci, Executive Director for the Baltimore County Department of Economic Development.
Studies consistently show that when customers buy from an independent, locally owned business, over two thirds of the money spent stays in the community and is used for purchases from other local businesses. These businesses also create more jobs locally, and in some sectors provide better wages and benefits than nationwide chains. The owners often live in the community where their business is located.

There are approximately 3,000 locally owned businesses within Baltimore County’s 13 commercial revitalization districts, which include Arbutus, Catonsville, Dundalk, Essex, Landsdowne, Liberty Road, Loch Raven, Overlea-Fullerton, Parkville, Pikesville, Reisterstown, Towson and Woodlawn Village. Businesses include specialty retail shops, restaurants, florists, hair salons, automotive repair shops, and home improvement stores.

“By spending money in local businesses, you maintain the value of your community by keeping businesses open in vibrant neighborhood downtowns,” stated Nancy Hafford, Executive Director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce.



Re Discover Catonsville

Frederick Road & Baltimore National Pike

There are lots of local retailers and restaurants offering a variety of goods and services all along or near Frederick Road. Cy's Tuxedos have bathing suits as well as tuxedo rentals, Plymouth Wallcoverings offers furniture & home decor, Objects Found has antiques and consignment items, and One World Emporium and Jeanna Lynn Bags & Designs offer unique items. Treats abound at Sugar Bakers Cakes and the IYou Scream - Ice Cream, and restaurants include El Nayar, Chef Paolino's Catonsville Gourmet Market & Fine Foods, Jennings Cafe and more

Trax on Wax

We should be really glad that there is a Music Store in Catonsville and I encourage everyone to support it. I stopped in today and enjoyed a fresh cup of coffee, while listening to some great tunes, and browsing through many old favorites.
Gary has new and used vinyl (most used vinyl is an unbelievable $2.99!) He will buy your unwanted albums and burn your favorite ablums to cd.

For new record store venture, all sales are vinyl
By Kevin Rectorkrector@patuxent.com

5/06/09 (Reprinted from the Catonsville Times)

Vinyl is back in Catonsville.

A new vinyl record shop is set to open Monday, May 11 in the same downtown Catonsville location vacated by the closing of a Record & Tape Traders store in March.

Store owner Gary Gebler, a former Record & Tape Traders executive, said Trax on Wax will sell old vinyl records, new special-release vinyl records and compact discs by local musicians.
The store also will have the capability of transferring newly purchased records or old albums onto CDs.

The store will offer coffee and snacks, wireless Internet access as well as outdoor seating and indoor areas for customers to lounge and play records.

Gebler said he's not going to set hours at the store immediately.

He said he wants to take some time to gauge in-store traffic and whether college students from nearby University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the Community College of Baltimore County-Catonsville campus will provide a later crowd.

He said he is aware of the trouble Record & Tape Traders had with street visibility and plans to have outdoor seating and outdoor speakers playing music to help get the shop noticed.

There will also be "tons of signage," he said, declaring the shop's name, its merchandise and its "cool phone number," 410-869-TRAX.

A stage for live music and performances will be a permanent fixture at the 709 Frederick Road location.

Magazines, posters, incense and other items also will be sold, as they were at like Record & Tape Traders.

Gebler said his store will not sell tobacco pipes as its predecessor did, nor will it sell any music other than vinyl records and local CDs.

In that way, the shop will serve a particular musical niche, Gebler said, one he has witnessed survive many changes in the music industry over the years.

Gebler served as vice president of Record & Tape Traders from 1995 to 2006, when it was sold to Georgia-based Value Music Concepts.

Catonsville, dubbed "Music City, Maryland" in May of 2002, was always his favorite location, he said, and he loved the store's vinyl collection.

Gebler said that after leaving Record & Tape Traders, he worked for Trans World Entertainment Corp., which owns F.Y.E. and Sam Goody music stores that are found in malls around the country.

In both jobs, he constantly heard people lament the disappearance of vinyl, he said.
In March, when he heard Record & Tape Traders had called it quits in Catonsville after being in town since 1982, he decided to act on a business idea he had for years.

Gebler, who lives in Reisterstown, had been considering a store with the feel of an old-school record shop but all the amenities of a modern, wired coffee joint.

"When you walk in, the aroma of incense is going to hit you," he said.

Gebler's son, Jake Gebler, 23, has redesigned the store's two outdoor window displays, even adding a splash of leopard print fabric to make them "sexy," he said with a laugh.

His wife, Susan Richardson, has been helping sort the old records, which Gebler said he has been collecting for the past six weeks from "estate sales, garage sales, and postings on (Craigslist.com)" up and down the east coast.

Gebler's buddy, Bob Berberich, who used to work for him at the Record & Tape Traders in Frederick, is doing all the new woodwork in the shop.

In addition to constructing the new record bins along the walls, he is also building the new stage, where there will "always be a full set of band equipment," Gebler said.

Peirce MacGill, a revitalization specialist with the county's Department of Economic Development, has also provided some assistance.

Gebler said he occasionally gets nervous about starting his own business.
"I feel like I'm crazy sometimes, like, 'What am I doing? Do I know what's going on in the world?'" he said. But he also is confident in his concept.

"I think it's going to do well. I really do. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing it," he said.
And he's excited about the prospect of hanging out in a record shop all day.
"From a selfish standpoint, I want a place where I can look at albums," he said, laughing.
He said he envisions his shop being "just a place for people to hang out and talk about music."
While the store will open Monday, Gebler said the "big launch party" won't be until the middle of June.

Catonsville Pub Crawl - May 2009

The Catonsville Men's Civic Association's 2nd Pub Crawl was a great Success. The participants started the trek at G.L. Shacks with free appetizers and drink specials.

Some then made a brief stop at Morsburger's Bar.

The crawlers proceeded to Sea Hut, where we were greeted by the musical delight of a D.J. No time was wasted before the very talented (and very happy) bunch was showing off their best dance moves.

On to Jennings Cafe for more drink specials and more good times! By then it was already midnight and some continued onward while others went back to Sea Hut for more dancing and others crawled home.

I am not sure, but, I believe there are a few, that never left G.L. Shacks!

Many thanks to our sponsors and participants.

Catonsville Rails to Trails & Friends of the Patapsco Valley Heritage Greenway

One of our regular loyal readers has contacted us and asked that we include links to these two important web sites. Here they are and Thank you for your support! . These two sites have also been added to "Our Favorite Links" section (on the right hand side of this page) for easy future reference.

The Catonsville Rails to Trails has been working with the Baltimore County Highway Department on disposal of the old railroad ties from the Short Line Trail. The County determined that the ties were non-toxic and agreed to remove them. During the removal, they widened the cleared trail to about twelve feet, fixed two washouts, and filled in several low spots. The trail is now level for the entire length from Charlestown to Shady Nook. http://home.comcast.net/~crtt/

The Friends of Patapsco Valley and Heritage Greenway Inc. (FPVHG) is dedicated to preserving , protecting, interpreting and restoring the environment, history and culture of the Valley between Daniels and Elkridge, Maryland. http://www.patapscoheritagegreenway.org/

Frederick Rd. Fridays - 2009 Schedule

Frederick Rd. Fridays Begins this Year on June 19th

The Place is the Same

Egges Lane @ Frederick Rd. (Next to the Fire House)

The Music Starts at 6:30pm

Come Early and Dine at one of Catonsville's Restaurants

Stay Late and Enjoy Additional Entertainment at The Jennings Beer Garden

June 19 - Automatic Slim

June 26 - 5 Oaks

July 3 - Appaloosa

July 10 - Reality Jones

July 17 - Groove Mammals

July 24 - Bill Dickson & MTT

July 31 - The Gigs

August 7 - High Strung

August 14 - Marquis Soul

August 21 - Still Crazy

August 28 - TBA

September 4 - Blue Streak

Plant Sale and Exchange

HILLCREST P.T.A. SPRING PLANT SALE & EXCHANGE

Friday, May 8th from 3:00 to 6:00 pm on the side lawn at Hillcrest

Just in time for Mother's Day!



Shop a beautiful selection of flowering hanging baskets and 4.5" pots of annuals.

Please pick up pre-ordered plants during these hours.


If you have any questions please call Jennifer Parker at 410-788-6352





In addition to the Plant Sale everyone is invited to join in the

CATONSVILLE PLANT EXCHANGE!
Come share plants from your own garden while picking up something new and exciting from your neighbors' garden!
Exchange, donate, or simply take home plant divisions!

For more info please contact Ken Erickson at
410-788-6352 or

e-mail: 21228plantexchange@live.com.

Book Fair

Winters Lane Productions
Barnes and Noble Bookfair
Saturday, May 9th
Long Gate Shopping Center
4300 Montgomery Rd
Ellicott City, MD 21043

11:00-1:00 PM

Join us for a special Mother’s Day Storytime with selected family themed performances
Make a special gift for mom at our craft station
Get your gifts wrapped for Mother’s Day

4:00-6:00 PM
Come see more performances from our talented singers and musicians
A percentage of your Barnes and Noble purchase will benefit our organization.