Small businesses on the island, mainland back in business; restaurants doing their best under continuing limitations
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — The struggle is real for small-business owners in Ocean City and the mainland towns nearby, but better days are coming.
With the state moving toward Phase 2 of its reopening schedule amid the COVID-19 crisis, owners of nonessential retail stores were finally allowed to open Monday, June 15, and restaurants could begin serving patrons outside.
Painting the front of his new shop, Roger Brangan, owner of Pacific Soul — which moved from the 800 block of Asbury after 10 years to 1024 Asbury Ave. in February — said the closing has been difficult.
“We thought we would be open by Easter,” he said. “May is one thing, because it’s still not busy, busy, but now it’s the middle of June and this is when we’re supposed to be making the money, so it’d be nice to be open and make something.”
Brangan, who sells handmade wood items he personally buys from Bali, said it’s a struggle financially, especially after having put out money to move.
“We’ve been paying rent on it since February and doing what we need to do to get it up and running. It would be nice for the store to pay for itself and not draining us dry,” Brangan said. “There’s definitely people in Ocean City, and hopefully they are all just waiting for Asbury Avenue to open up.”
Joe Babcock, owner of Luigi’s Italian Restaurant at the corner of Ninth Street and West Avenue in Ocean City, said he and other business owners are struggling to make it.
“Right now, I’m just trying to keep this place afloat; it’s getting harder and harder,” he said. “You’ve got a lot of competition, everybody is just trying to make a buck.”
Babcock said he planned to open outdoor seating in his parking lot Monday but was not sure whether he had permission to do so.
“Hopefully the city is going to be lenient and let us open up and do what we need to do to survive,” he said.
Babcock was preparing to have 12 tables set up, including some classic Italian ambiance.
“We’re doing the seating tastefully — planters and lights and table cloths and cloth napkins and real silverware and real plates. It’s going to be just like you’re dining inside,” Babcock said.
He said he would have between 48 and 68 seats in the parking lot and applied to the city for a café license for sidewalk seats on West Avenue.
“By the time I’m done I might be able to get back to my seating again,” he said. “Right now, all we’re doing is just trying to survive.”
Babcock said he has undertaken a lot of measures to ensure the safety of diners. He said every table is at least 6 feet apart and most are 7 feet apart.
“We have sanitation stations with gloves, masks, sanitation wipes, sanitation sprays. Whatever we need will be on these carts, one on either end, so whenever they need this stuff, it’s going to be there,” he said. “Everyone wears gloves and masks; we have rules and guidelines.”
He said complying with the state requirements is difficult and costly.
“It’s hard and expensive,” he said, adding that he is losing money and spending money.
“I have to buy tables for outside, table cloths, paper napkins, take-out containers. Everything is just money, money, money and we’re not making any money,” Babcock said.
He said he has been doing most of the work himself and will be happy to bring some workers back.
“Everyone in town is going to try to do their best to make a buck,” Babcock said. Luigi’s will begin taking take-out orders at 4 p.m. and start serving outdoors at 5 p.m.
“I think because of the outdoor seating we are going to have people who want to dine under the lights, so we are going to be open until 10 at night.”
Larry Friedel, owner of 7th Street Surf Shop, which has locations both downtown and on the Boardwalk, said both business districts have suffered during the forced closing but that the Boardwalk has suffered worse.
“Without having the rides and having attractions, how are you going to hold your families up there? They might take a stroll and might buy a slice of take-out pizza or something, but they’re not coming for the evening because there’s nothing for the kids to be really entertained with,” he said. “The Boardwalk has always been known as busier at night and it’s not. So the whole resort is incredibly diminished.”
Friedel said downtown businesses have fared better because people can see what they have to offer.
“Downtown they can drive in front of your store and look in your windows and if they see things they like, it’s given new life to the old phrase ‘window shopping,’” Friedel said. “But as it opens up on Monday, they know that they can come in.”
He said the reopening of retail shops would be a boost to the public’s psyche as well as to the businesses, both downtown and on the Boardwalk.
“The public’s perception will change dramatically. Right now, there are a ton of people not even trying to come in the store. Once the public realizes it’s open and you can shop, you are going to start seeing business again,” he said. “Everyone is limping along, trying to make some income to pay our help, hoping that when this opens up there will be a pent-up demand.”
Wes Kazmarck, president of the Boardwalk Merchants Association, said retail opening is “a big step in the right direction.”
“It’s a little late, but right now it’s a step in the right direction,” the owner of Surf Mall said.
But what the Boardwalk needs is everybody open, he said.
“We work off each other. We need to get amusements, arcades, dining figured out,” Kazmarck said. “We’re happy to open, but for this summer to be successful we need to be full strength. People come to the beach for the full experience, and that includes eating at their favorite restaurant, going to the rides and everything else.”
Brian Hartley, co-owner of Playland’s Castaway Cove, Seaside Speedway go-karts and Pirates of the Golden Galleon and Seaport Village Golf miniature golf courses, opened the golf courses and go-kart track Wednesday, June 10.
“It’s been a long time coming. We are just trying to get ready and take all of the precautions we need to take. We installed hand-sanitizer stations all over. We have cleaning solutions to clean all of the clubs. We have put up signs everywhere — you need a mask, we are offering gloves to anyone who wants to wear gloves. We’ve got dots out to socially distance everyone and keep them away from one another,” Hartley said. “We’ve done everything that we can possibly do to try to control that.”
While waterparks, amusement parks and arcades are still closed, Hartley said they were able to get some people working.
“The employees that are working today, it’s their first day back,” he said.
He said it is vital to Boardwalk merchants to have everything open.
“Entertainment is something everybody’s been asking for because there hasn’t really been a holding power. People come here and they eat and they walk, but outside of that there isn’t anything to keep them up here for any set period of time,” he said, noting that Boardwalk businesses have a symbiotic relationship. “Everyone feeds off of each other, every business is a complement to each other.”
Bernie McLaughlin and granddaughters Emma and Mia Tietreak were waiting to be first in line for miniature golf last Wednesday at Seaport Village. She said she was happy to see things opening up.
“They are going a little stir crazy,” she said.
Meanwhile, owners of restaurants across the bridges, where people can indulge in an adult beverage or two, were excited to open after months of being closed, although only outside the eateries.
Gregory’s Restaurant and Bar in Somers Point was set to start serving patrons at tables on the sidewalk along Shore Road and Delaware Avenue, as well as on the back patio and across Shore Road in its parking lot.
“It’s long-awaited. I’m not really anticipating a giant crowd — 50 percent want to stay home, 50 percent want to go out — so who knows what it’s going to be?” owner Greg Gregory said last week.
“We have permission for the parking lot if we so need to add tables and a little grill or something like that out there,” Gregory said. “We’re thinking about doing regular dinners here — I’m picking up nine dozen soft shells today because they have been selling pretty good with the takeout — but we’re going to have fresh ocean-to-table and arm-to-plate.”
He said the eatery would be ready to serve its full menu at the outside tables and the back patio and planned to keep it “light and breezy” in the parking lot. He planned to set up four pop-up tents and has a storage trailer with power that will be the base of operations.
“We will be able to set up a grill and probably have our award-winning best burger in South Jersey, roast beef sandwiches, hot dogs. We are going to park our pickups over there and people can sit on the tailgates and have a couple drinks. It should be pretty fun,” Gregory said, noting that he would be able to serve about 50 people on the sidewalk and out back.
Gregory said the city has been accommodating to the restaurants.
“Somers Point has been a bar town since they settled; the first building was a tavern. Somers Tavern is where they held all of the official meetings. Since then we have 17 liquor licenses in Somers Point and most of them are active,” he said. “They know that one of the biggest drivers of employment in the city besides the hospital is restaurants. You take the hospital out, what’s left? The restaurants. You take out the hospital and you still have hospitality.”
Gregory said COVID-19 has been the worst thing to ever happen to his business.
“We’ve been here 74 years and we’ve seen depressions, recessions, fires, car wrecks. We’ve seen everything over the past 74 years and we’ve never seen anything like this virus,” Gregory said. “The stay-at-home order, and now the governor barely giving us outside dining with no inside dining in sight.”
Jeff McIntyre, co-owner of Yesterday’s in Upper Township, was getting ready to use 5,000 square feet of his parking lot and his back porch for outdoor dining. He said the restaurant would have about 15 tables and be able to accommodate about 100 people.
“It’s been a long time that we’ve been shut down now. It’s been a struggle in Cape May County for all businesses and we are all looking forward to getting the summer kicked off again,” McIntyre said.
He said people have been getting cabin fever having to stay at home.
“They are all champing at the bit to get back out and start enjoying themselves and I think they’ve got this under control pretty well now,” he said, adding that the staff has been taking steps to protect customers and staff from the virus.
“We’ll do our social distancing, clean our restaurant properly. Do all the precautions that need to be done,” McIntyre said, adding that he uses peroxide-based cleaner recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has hand sanitizer and masks available.
“I think people are smart enough now that they understand what they need to do to properly protect themselves,” McIntyre said.
The reopening will also be a boost to employment. McIntyre said he laid off about 40 people and hopes to have the majority of them back by early summer.
“I’ll have a decent wait staff,” he said, adding that the take-out window is still open starting at 11 a.m. The parking lot and back deck will be open from 4 p.m. until 10 or 11 p.m., depending on business.
Michele Gillian, executive director of the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce, was very pleased with the opening of retail shops Monday but said more must be done.
“I think the opening of retail really is such a good thing for the boardwalk and downtown but we have a couple more things that need to be open,” she said. “It’s really the start of something good for Ocean City and the things that need to come. We checked off outdoor dining, checked off retail and we’re still waiting to check off amusements and other dining to make the whole boardwalk experience complete.
