Every Jersey Shore community hopes for long lines at beach badge huts throughout the summer. In Belmar, the lines — and the sales — have grown this season.
“Halfway through this summer we are up about 20 percent for the amount of middle class families coming here to the Belmar beach,” said Belmar Mayor Matthew Doherty. “That’s great for our beach revenues and that’s also great for the small businesses that operate here.”
Dominic Lubrano owns Burrito Hut on the boardwalk. This is the second year for his restaurant. “Since last year, I would say we are up 20 to 30 percent,” he said. “Weather has helped a lot.”
Along Main Street, Sunsation Store Manager Erica Grogan says this is the shop’s busiest summer in the past four years. “We’ve had a great summer. The weather has been really great and beach chairs are up,” she said.
Business owners throughout the Jersey Shore agree they are at the mercy of Mother Nature. For Runaway Rapids Water Park in Keansburg, good weather is crucial for a successful summer season.
“If the weatherman mentions the word thunderstorm at all, we’re going to have a poor day,” water park owner William Gehlhaus said. “Up until we had a rainy two weeks we were way ahead, about 20 percent.”
But not every shore community has seen a boost in business.
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“I will tell you that our business is down in a lot of key areas,” Director of Marketing for Jenkinson’s Boardwalk Marilou Halvorsen said.
In Point Pleasant Beach, beach badge sales are down 5 to 8 percent from the same period last summer. Overall, boardwalk revenue is flat from last year.
“I think there are a lot of factors,” Halvorsen said. “I think it’s the economy, I think a little bit of it is the weather with the heat and I do think it was the negative publicity over all this hurt us.”
Point Pleasant Beach has been making headlines over a law passed in May that would have required bars to close at midnight or pay the borough to stay open until 2 a.m. But the director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control ruled to keep the 2 a.m. bar closing law, pending a judgment on the midnight bar closing ordinance. Court proceedings have not been scheduled and in the meantime, the boardwalk is organizing free family activities and discount packages to attract customers like Bergenfield resident Eileen Jorgensen. She made the drive down the Parkway to spend time and money with her grandson.
“There’s nothing like the Jersey Shore and we spend it at the shore. This is what we love and we keep the New Jersey economy going,” Jorgensen said.
That’s something New Jersey’s beach communities are counting on throughout August and the rest of the summer season.
Lauren Wanko reports from Point Pleasant Beach.