By JENNA RHUDE
Moapa Valley Progress
Change is coming to Lin’s Marketplace in downtown Overton. Long-time store manager Darin Leach is moving on to a new position. Leach has been the manager at Lin’s since Labor Day weekend of 2006.
Leach and his family will be moving to Santa Clara, Utah later this week. There he will become the assistant store manager at the Lin’s in St. George.
Leach said that he describes this upcoming time in his life as a “season of caregiving”. The Leaches will be moving to Utah to help care for his mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Moving to Utah will also provide more opportunities for Leach’s son who is autistic, he said.
In an interview last week with the Progress, Leach reminisced about his time in Moapa Valley. He recalled 2010 as one of the most troubling years for the local Lin’s and its team members. That year the store’s refrigeration went out and they lost the merchandise in the entire perishable section of the store.
Within weeks of one of the store’s team members suffered the loss of a young family member.
“There have been highs and lows,” Leach recalled, “but one thing that always happens in the community is that we come together.”
Leach also spoke of how he has loved watching the local economy grow out of the recession of 2008. He also remembered the severe flood that ravished the Valley several years ago and how the community pulled together to help each other out.
Leach has appreciated the relationships that he has made while living in Moapa Valley and while working at Lin’s. During that time, he has felt the impact of the contributions to the community, schools and churches in the Valley.
Working in a small community as they do, the store’s team members become very close. “We enjoy the graduations, births, marriages and many other life events, and we celebrate them together,” Leach said. “We have also felt the pain of losing loved ones together. I love this community, town, the people, the store; I am going to miss this team very much.”
“There is a community spirit here you don’t find anywhere else,” Leach added. “Schools, churches, businesses and community work together so well. If anything, it is important for people to know how great this store and team are and that I will truly miss them.”
Leach offered an open invitation to any local residents who may be visiting the St. George Lin’s store on Sunset, to stop in and say hello. “I would love that,” he said.
When asked about the management transition, Leach said that it will be smooth. Assistant Manager Jesse Jenson will be steeping into Leach’s place as the new store manager.
“Jesse knows the store and he has an appreciation of this community,” Leach said. “It will be good.”
