Dan's Papers - June 5, 2009 - Givin' You the Business

When President Warren G. Harding proclaimed, "The business of America is business," he might as well have been talking about Memorial Day weekend in the Hamptons. This year's holiday weekend was much more anticipated than other years, due to looming questions around the nation's present economic realities. Marina Van, the Executive Director of the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, was very positive in summing up business traffic in East Hampton, saying, "Busy, busy, busy." And yes it was, but how were the sales?

A manager of one of the upscale East Hampton boutiques said traffic in the store was heavy but only the usual seasonal buyers made purchases. Inside the Ralph Lauren empire a source said their sales in East Hampton were strong, not anything like the dismalness of last fall. In fact he said he was personally surprised. The new Hermes shop also was very busy. Other shops were not as fortunate.

In Montauk which had its Fine Arts Festival, Montauk Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Laraine Creegan said the town was jumping. Restaurants were busy, shopping traffic in town seemed up from last year and the Fine Arts Festival had a record turnout with brisk sales. The same was true in Bridgehampton where one restaurant owner confided that, although he's always busy year round, he was glad to see a strong crowd of new faces ordering enthusiastically. However it may be noted that one annual visitor was surprised that the prices at the trendy restaurants seemed to be around 15% higher. With gas cheaper, Bridgehampton National Bank CEO Kevin O'Connor had predicted that more money would be spent in shops and restaurants. To some extent he was correct. However, there is no doubt that the money is also being spent more prudently.

In Southampton due to the nature of the structure of their Chamber of Commerce, a narrow view of Southampton Village was not available, but again the word on the street was, "busy." Bob Corton, a former business owner and now a part-time cook in the Village, stated that, based on his 20 years of observations, the 20-something club crowd was not present at the restaurants in the usual numbers this Memorial Day weekend. He believes that shoppers were more cautious all over the town. Many believe that part of the rental slowdown this year is due in part to the decreased amount of the share house crowds that are typically affluent, eat in trendy restaurants and buy new clothes for the evenings. For example, Dr. Brian Quinn, a podiatrist in New York City, has yet to put together his annual rental share house due to lack of response from his usual renters. However, Memorial Day Weekend Saturday night crowds at both the Surf Lodge in Montauk and Stephen Talkhouse were as heavy as last year.

In Westhampton, business was also upbeat. Dockers was crowded and brisk on Saturday night. One patron said, "getting the good parking spots around sunset was just as crazy as ever." However she added that, since it wasn't as warm as other years, she believed it hurt the overall sales. In fact, she and her husband were on the fence about coming out due to the mild weather. There seems to be a consensus that the early season now suffers because the water is still cold at the beaches and the temperatures are not conducive to swimming and hanging around the pool. Therefore, with the cautious nature of the average visitor, weather watching affecting the weekends will be at a higher level this year than ever.

Farther east, Montauk Marine Basin owner and life long resident Carl Darenberg said he is happy, "only two boats in his whole yard are not going in the water this year." He said fishing has been good and the fluke fishing was strong during the Memorial Day weekend. He added that repairs and restorations on the boats in his yard are going on surprisingly strong this season, not at all affected by the economy. Although boat sales are soft, with lower prices, he did sell two boats Memorial Day weekend.

My own informal tour of Montauk, Amagansett, East Hampton, Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor on Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend had three noticeable observations. One - traffic seemed lighter. It had to be, otherwise or I wouldn't have been able to get to all those towns in a timely manner. Two - the hot spots seemed to thin out earlier, except for the Stephen Talkhouse which actually was semi-quiet until the line formed at 12:30 a.m. Three - it was obvious was that there were people out in the Hamptons. Those who were here, maybe even being more cautious, brought their wallets nonetheless.