The two most important things to us are family and community. For us, community is a place that you can call home, and Bethlehem has been our home for over 30 years.
We grew up in the Capital Region surrounded by mom-and-pop shops, where people were the focus. When we became owners of Delmar Marketplace in 2011, we had enjoyed full careers and brought all we learned about business to the market. We also brought all we knew about people, and were intentional about making our store an open, welcoming, positive atmosphere. People are important to us – our customers, the young people we employ and train, as well as the local small producers whose products we sell. We are fortunate to have the best business partners in the McCarrolls.
And as store owners, we have become even closer to the community. When Covid hit, we had been successful, but we knew we had to quickly change how we did business, and started doing curbside pick-up and delivery. We connected with so many people here – whether because they couldn’t safely leave home, or couldn’t find products anywhere else (toilet paper!) We feel grateful that we were able to play that role in a hard time.
Beyond our pride in our store, we are most proud of our children. Two of our kids work with us still – Philip and Jillian, and our oldest, Julie, lives now in Texas. We come from big families, many of them now scattered throughout the country, but still really close. We grew up with lots of family gatherings and parties at the holidays. We’re lucky. A lot of people don’t have that.
John and Mary Hooper own and operate the Delmar Marketplace in partnership with Jim and Christine McCarroll, located at 406 Kenwood Avenue in Delmar. Go to https://www.delmarmarketplace.com/ or call 518-439-3936 for info.