Merchants looking forward to season in 2023
OCEAN CITY — Like Easter lilies, signs of spring are popping up around the island, promising vibrant color and fun, sun-filled days ahead.
Owners of retail businesses will be pleased to see the gray days of winter in the rear-view mirror as they motor ahead toward summer.
Merchants from downtown and the boardwalk came together in March when Ocean City kicked off the 2023 season with Market Madness.
The annual event provides shoppers with a preview of summer, great bargains on last season’s hot items and discounts on merchandise, goods and attractions.
More than 25 vendors set up shop inside the solarium as the sizable waves crashed onto the beach below.
While planned annually, the event began in 2020, four days before the COVID-19 shutdown, was canceled in 2021 due to pandemic restrictions and returned last year during a snowstorm.
This year it was cold, wet and windy but shoppers were eager to get out, crowding the Music Pier shortly after the doors opened.
“One of these years we’ll have reasonably nice weather and we’ll get impulse people coming in; right now, everyone that’s in here made a point of coming here,” said Wes Kazmarck, owner of Surf Mall at the southern end of the boardwalk business district and president of the Boardwalk Merchants Association.
Kazmarck said the size of the crowd was a good sign for summer.
“I think we are looking forward to a very normal summer compared to what we’ve had in the past three. We were pretty close last year and I feel like this year will be back to business as usual,” he said. “It seems like a lot of people are coming to Ocean City, so we are excited.”
Kazmarck said a coordinated effort among the businesses in both districts, the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce and City Hall helped make the event a success through the “power of social media.”
“We knew that the weather being what it was going to be — three years now and we haven’t had great weather yet — that we were going to have to drive them here, they weren’t going to spontaneously walk in,” Kazmarck said.
Co-organizer Caitlin Quirk, owner of Bowfish Kids and vice president of the Downtown Merchants Association, said the event is turning into a great thing for the businesses and shoppers.
“It’s a really great event for us as merchants to really give back to the people in the area. Help us get rid of our stuff and we’ll give you a really good price,” Quirk said, noting the two districts have been working together more over the past couple of years.
She was impressed with the size of the crowd before lunchtime.
“If this event is the kick off to a strong season, then I think it’s going to look up from here seeing this turnout,” Quirk said. “When we work together, clearly we can do really great things.”
“This is a great event because it is the definition of the downtown and the boardwalk working together. Half the boardwalk and half the downtown are here,” Kazmarck said.
Christine Palma and Brad Nahodil of OC Waterparks were selling discount tickets to the park and OC Adventure Golf.
Palma said visitors can expect to see a lot of upgrades to the park, including new paint, tables, netting and plants. Park employees are also doing a lot of background upgrades, such as upgrading the filtration system and pumps.
“We’re sprucing everything up and making it more bright and colorful,” she said.
The miniature-golf course was set to open April 2 and the waterpark by mid-June. Palma said they shoot for Memorial Day weekend but it never is quite warm enough yet. This season, they are adding a Ben’s Pretzels stand.
At the next table, Egg Harbor Township residents Marc Brandow and Miley Rockelman, both 15, were working the Manco & Manco table, selling merchandise from the beloved pizzeria.
In the back, Ariana Bayham and daughter Madison of Fisherman’s Cove and Jewelry Hut were selling sunglasses and sweatshirts.
“We use it as a push to get rid of old products that didn’t sell and make room for new products. It gets us back in the flow of things,” Bayham said, noting it also gives them a chance to see what people like and don’t like.
“I think it’s going to be a good summer. Last year was a little weird because it was after COVID but I think people are back in the groove of really being normal this year,” she said.
Diane Wallace was shopping with her daughter Melanie Boffa of Somers Point and her husband, Blake. They stopped by Jay’s Crab Shack to buy some soup from Joe Fanelli, 79, of Upper Township.
“It’s a great time to get discounts on tickets for golf and rides,” Melanie Boffa said.
Mallory Stetter was operating a table for her business, Mallory’s Eats. The 20-year-old sells artisan baked goods such as custom cupcakes, caramel apples, cake pops, cookies and brownies. She started the business while in college — she graduated at 19 with a marketing degree — and plans to open a store in Wildwood this May.
She sells her goods at the block party and Stainton’s Gallery of Shops on Asbury Avenue, as well as during festivals and markets in Cape May.
Shayne Hendricks was selling sauces and spices along with Heather Neville, owner of Goodies Gone Wild at 932 Boardwalk. Neville plans to open a new shop downtown called Agape Gourmet at 854 Asbury Ave.
She sells exotic meats and a wide array of sauces at her boardwalk location, while she will focus more on hard-to-find groceries, fresh produce and a large cheese and charcuterie section at Agape Gourmet.
She said 70 percent of the products will be locally sourced in New Jersey, New York or Pennsylvania.
Neville explained that agape is the highest form of love, “something the world is lacking so we need more of it.”
Roseanne Nicolucci, manager of the L.E.H. Soap Co. store at 937 Asbury Ave., loved the collaboration on the event. The company also has a location at 1312 Boardwalk.
“We don’t often get the chance to do events together and people coming to Ocean City get to experience everybody, so I love it,” she said. “There are not a lot of events this time of year so it provides an opportunity for people to come down and do all the stuff they love in O.C.”
Other businesses taking part were Bird Cage, Shirt Shack, JiLLy’s Shops, Shriver’s, Sand + Stitch, Ocean Treasures, Air Circus, Stainton’s Gallery of Shops, Nine North, White Lotus, Bella U, Goodies Gone Wild, Jay’s Crab Shack, Mallory’s Eats, OC Waterpark, Make it Personal, Pirate Island and Congo Falls miniature golf, George’s Candies, Wonderland Pier, Playland’s Castaway Cove and All Campus.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
