Main Street businesses vital to Westminster

Along Westminster?s Main Street in Carroll County, shopkeepers not only know one another, but they pretty much know all of their customers. Less than a mile from Route 140, where large discount stores and chain restaurants line both sides of the highway, Main Street clings to its small-town origins. In some cases, the businesses are multigeneration “mom and pops.”

Heinz Bakery, anchored at the far end of the first block of West Main Street, is one such business, operating out of a two-story, red brick colonial-style building. Yvonne Luesse stands behind the counter greeting her regulars while serving coffee and pastry to the mid-morning customers seated at round, ice cream shop tables.