Success For Jersey Shore Businesses Mixed In First Post-Sandy Summer
By Dan Wing
LONG BEACH ISLAND, N.J. (CBS) - In the months following Superstorm Sandy, many were predicting a down year for businesses at the Jersey Shore.
With the summer vacation season nearing its end, many are wondering how businesses in some of the hardest hit areas, like Long Beach Island, fared. That depends who you ask.
Rick Jones is a real estate agent with the G. Anderson Agency, and he says that despite a slow start to the year, rentals picked up in late February, and were about the same as last summer. But Jones says those winter months are when renters make some of their biggest deals, with smaller properties usually rented when the temperature starts rising:
"As you go into the season, the ticket generally lowers and people who will come on a whim, but be renting $2,000 or $3,000 homes, come down and make their decision then."
Karen Colmer has run LBI Toys at Bay Village for the past 13 summers, and says this summer was a bit different from the norm:
"July definitely started out slower than usual, and then it picked up some towards the 3rd week of July, and then the first couple of weeks of August were good. And then it slowly has gone down again."
Jones adds he and other area merchants are hoping the upcoming Chowder Fest will add a final push for businesses on the island.
