Shore Businesses Re-open After Hurricane Irene

It was “business as usual” – sort of – in many coastal towns the Monday following Hurricane Irene, as numerous businesses were open, yet many remained closed due to power outages.

Several businesses were still “shuttered” Monday afternoon – mainly due to power outages – and there was little foot traffic along Main Street in Belmar, yet the boards were alive, and people were on the beach. Still not open however, was Casa Vittoria Pizzeria on Ocean Avenue.

“We never lost electricity. Last night (Sunday), we were totally fine. The town pumped out a lot of Silver Lake in anticipation of the storm. Sometime between last night and this morning, the water level rose. We moved everything to higher ground,” said owner Nick Fuccilli, Belmar. “We closed Friday night and boarded up the windows, and Saturday weren’t here at all – we haven’t been open since Friday night.  We anticipate opening Tuesday.”

Rainwater – as opposed to lake or ocean water – also hindered businesses farther inland with flooding.

“We’re all OK here – everyone escaped with only some basement water, etc. We’re three blocks from the beach, but just got lucky – sent all guitars and amps inland beforehand. The boardwalk looks pretty good too; damage in some areas but not extensive.” said Danny White, owner of , 808 Belmar Plaza, Belmar.

The situation was a bit grimmer on Main Street by Shark River Inlet.

“We’ve been without power all weekend.  We have generators, we have refrigerated trucks, and we’ve been taking stuff off-premises. We’re losing stuff left and right,” said John Klein, Neptune, owner of Klein’s Fish Market & Waterside Café on Main and Fifth Avenue, Belmar. “Other than that, it wasn’t a bad storm – we had no water damage from the Shark River Inlet. There’s been no response from the electric company – it’s the worst I’ve ever seen it. We lost the weekend, and now we lost Monday; not good.”

There were scattered JCP&L trucks along the side streets in Belmar, but traffic lights out on Main and Eighth and Ninth avenues, and as far west as Route 138 and New Bedford Road proved the outages were widespread.

“I rode up to JLynn’s Sunday and no damage at all, just no power yet. I took the boards down and was ready for business Monday. Belmar made us all be out by 6 p.m. Saturday, and we were not allowed to open until Monday morning,” said Jaimie Hardell, Point Pleasant, owner of JLynn’ on Main Street, Belmar.

A few shops in town remained unscathed.

“Sweet!is a-OK! Our power apparently didn’t even go off. We were probably safer at the shop than at our house in Freehold, where we lost power between 3-4 a.m. Sunday. We walked into the shop this morning just to see if we had damage or anything, and nothing, thank God. Everything was as we left it when we evacuated later Friday. We were super happy we didn’t lose anything,” said Cali Lowe, Freehold, co-owner with her mother, Lena of , 10^th Avenue, Belmar.

Despite the Hula Grill on Ocean Avenue in Bradley having to be hooked up to a truck and driven away – then back to its spot on the boards – the surrounding establishments had no problems with Irene.

“Shore Smoothies made out great actually! No flooding in basement, no water in the store, and except for a leaky roof, power is on,” said Jess Medler, who owns , Bradley Beach, with her husband Bill. “We boarded up the windows and doors on Friday night, expecting the worst. We even emptied out our supplies and blenders, thinking we would get washed away. All is well, and we were also good at our house in Lake Como.”

Smoothies’ next-door neighbor, Breezy Day Surf Pizza, boarded up with plywood also, yet took it down, put out its awning and umbrellas, and was ready for business Sunday morning.  Owner James Scott, Rockland County, N.Y., did however leave small spaces in the boards to serve up food to those brave enough to be out Saturday evening.

“People actually came up and bought ice cream between 6 and 8 p.m. I even hung out here, and waited until 11:30 p.m. Saturday, and got bored because nothing was happening, and I left,” said Scott. “I snuck onto the beach a few times to take photos – the cops were pretty good at patrolling. I was disappointed – I’ve been in some pretty major storms in North Carolina and Maui – this was like an intense rain storm.”

The “intense rain storm” made the streets along 19^th Avenue in Belmar – such as Snyder and A Street – look like a lake following Irene, as water from Lake Como had receded only mid-way down the cross streets. on Main Street in Lake Como – a few blocks east – also had some flooding.

“Our only damage was the water in the basement,” said owner, Tom McCann. “We were open until 9 p.m. on Saturday – they made us close at 9 p.m. – and we opened at noon or 1 p.m. Sunday. We got killed all day – busy, busy.”

Spring Lake lost almost all of its boardwalk but no businesses. Power outages in town early Monday didn’t help commerce, though.

“I’m fine and the coffee house is fine,” said Rob Yanosey, owner of , Third Avenue. “The coffee house – and most other things on Third Avenue – were initially closed Monday, because we had no power, but we actually managed to open at 2 p.m., and downtown Spring Lake has power and is in business. My apartment complex (The Heights at Spring Lake) never lost power and didn’t have any flooding.”

Down in Manasquan, things weren’t much better.

“We have no electricity at the store, and they said it may take a week. We are open for business but with no lights. So it is ‘business by candlelight,’” said Anne Sauri, Manasquan, owner of , Manasquan. “We are supposed to have a celebration on Saturday at the store for my four-year anniversary… should be interesting. This is another blow to us being the busy week of Labor Day. No one is out shopping, they are home trying to recover.” 

She expressed sympathy for her fellow businesses.

“It could be worse. I feel bad for the restaurant right across the street; Squan Tavern doesn’t have electricity either. They were moving their food to other refrigerators in other places to try and save it,” Sauri said. “They will lose a lot of money this week, not only in inventory, but in customers not being able to come and eat or buy takeout pizza.”