Baltimore businesses big and small regroup after riots
Kim Peace was crushed when her neighborhood CVS pharmacy was destroyed by looters.
“I’m really upset because I have to have medication,” Peace says, “And I can’t even get my medication today because they burned CVS up.”
Peace has asthma, but that didn’t stop her from sweeping up an alley in West Baltimore with her 7-year-old granddaughter.
“I’m not going to let the dirt and dust get in my way of trying to keep the community clean.”
She says she and her neighbors rely on that CVS for food, milk, and diapers. And it wasn’t just large chain stores that were damaged. Nearby, Sheranda Palmer was still in shock after the beauty parlor she co-owns was ransacked.
“We worked hard for this,” Palmer says. “We didn’t get grants for this. This was our hard earned money.”
Palmer has insurance and hopes to reopen by the weekend. But even then, she wonders how soon her customers will feel safe coming back.
Additional reporting by Mary Wiltenburg.
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