Two Years: Going Strong

Thomas and Sharon Procida, owners of Calverton Grocery Outlet

It has been two years since Thomas and Sharon Procida opened their grocery outlet store in Calverton. I joined them at the store to see how they felt after two years of being in this community. It didn’t take long at all to hear their thoughts: “We are blessed to be in this community!” The enthusiasm was palpable in talking to both of them.

I learned that when in training to lead a story, you can request a particular one, but there is no guarantee you’d get the one you want, but lucky for the Procidas and us, they got their first pick in Calverton. And the return on their choice has been nothing short of wonderful.

“The support of the community has been amazing. We even saw local customers while on a cruise and they thanked us for being here. And we said, no, thank you! Everyone bringing a friend or a family member has helped get to two years.”

The store currently has thirty-five employees, including some folks in training for their own stores. There is a lot of promotion from within and even from the customer base! But Tom and Sharon are adamant: “This is our forever store.” Their future plans include getting more diverse stock for the store and making it the community’s one stop shop. The store customer base has even doubled since the first year.

In a county that often has high turnover for stores and storage facilities (Beltsville has three that I can think of just off the top of my head!), it’s a welcome sight to see a store with items our citizens actually need that wants to be a main staple in our community.

It was a joy to talk to both Tom and Sharon and the lovely folks who said hello to me while I was browsing (I even went home with a highland cow garden gnome-I can’t resist anything with a highland cow on it!) and I feel confident that this wonderful store will be around for years to come.