THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 29, 1994 TAG: 9408290052
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED AND TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
A soft bed and an air-conditioned room overlooking the Atlantic has been an easy sell this season, but tourists' appetites for trinkets, T-shirts and a taste of the sea have taken a plunge.
A late start for the tourist season, a rainy July and sporadic weekend hooliganism along some stretches of the resort strip tipped the balance of commerce for restaurants and shops downward, local business owners said.
James B. Ricketts, director of the city's Department of Convention and Visitor Development, said occupancy figures through the first two weeks in July remained steady and healthy, although they were a percentage point or two below record rates established last year.
Revenues, he said, remained at about the same as last year, because hoteliers raised room rates about 8 percent in 1993.
``Our tax revenue figures through June show that we were up 4 percent, although occupancy was down somewhat,'' Ricketts said. ``It means that hotel rates are holding up.''
Best of all, said Ricketts, early August figures show Oceanfront occupancy rates in the 92 to 95 percent range, while citywide they ranged from 90.5 to 97 percent.
``This is the best August we've had since 1992,'' he added.
The city has more than 150 hotels and motels, which offer nearly 11,000 rooms for overnight visitors. Seventy-five inns, with 7,500 rooms, line the resort Oceanfront.
While retail sales citywide were up about 10 percent, along the Oceanfront where scores of souvenir, T-shirt and surf shops are clustered, stores have seen business decrease overall 8 to 20 percent, said David Groth, a shop owner and president of the Resort Retail Association.
``I can't explain why this is,'' Ricketts said, ``except that the malls and shopping centers (inland) apparently are doing very well.''
Groth attributes the poorer showing among resort retailers to persistent July rains and to the growth of specialty shops along the Oceanfront.
``They really haven't built any new hotel rooms in about five years,'' he said, ``but we've at least doubled the number of beach shops. Anything we can do to bring more offseason business to the Beach is welcome.''
Rick Kowalawitch, owner of R.K.'s Surf Boutique at 25th Street and Pacific Avenue, said his business has been down 30 percent for the past two summers.
Increased parking restrictions in adjacent residential neighborhoods and nighttime rowdies are hurting his business, he says.
``It's killing me and other businesses down here,'' he said, adding that he is preparing a petition to be presented to the City Council demanding that parking restrictions be loosened - at least during daylight hours. ``There's no place for day-trippers to park down here any more. And, that's the bulk of my business.''
As for the unruly behavior - usually late at night or early in the morning - Kowalawitch says a commitment by police to crackdown on behavior would solve the problem.
``They're letting them get away with urinating in public and making obscene remarks, and they know nobody is going to do anything about it,'' he said.
Businessman John Perros, president of the Virginia Beach Restaurant Association, said resort eateries' sales have declined 16 to 18 percent this summer.
``I think the month of July, with all of the rain, got us,'' he said. ``August has picked up somewhat. The coming Labor Day weekend festivities, which revolve around a three-day American Music Festival, offers resort business owners some reason for optimism.
``We hope it will bring a different type of crowd and make Labor Day a successful weekend again, like it used to be,'' said Perros, who helped plan the entertainment program.
The experience of Janice Creech, owner of Oceanside Gifts inside the Pierside Mall at 15th Street, mirrored that of other Oceanfront retailers.
``It's been an OK summer,'' Creech said. ``My July figures have been off, and it's kinda been like that the whole summer.
``April started out real good and I was hoping we'd have a great year, but things have flattened out a little.''
Creech, who has owned the store for about eight years, attributed the sluggish sales to many related factors. The number of Oceanfront stores has increased, but not the crowd of visitors, so there are fewer potential customers per shop to go around, she said.
Weather also has been a problem, with July being the wettest month on record. Even Midwest visitors played a part, she said, because those families stayed closer to home for a longer time while students made up school days missed because of heavy snows last winter.
Changing customer demand also plays a part, she said, with retailers in a constant struggle to find the right souvenir to boost sales.
``It has been a funny summer,'' she added. ``You have one good day and then a couple of slow ones. You really can't predict anymore.''
Even with the upcoming Labor Day weekend, the Shriners convention and the annual Neptune Festival, Creech is not convinced that sales will substantially improve in September.
``Labor Day is not that big a day for us anyhow,'' she said.
But for Hjordis Ferguson, owner of Lotus European Fashions, sales have been steady throughout the season.
``So far, so good,'' Ferguson said, cheerfully from her shop on Atlantic Avenue near 16th Street. ``It's been nothing extraordinary and not a particularly super season, but it has been steady.''
While some merchants worry about rain driving away visitors, Ferguson said it can sometimes have the opposite effect.
``It seemed like the people were still here even when it was raining,'' she said. ``And when it's raining, a lot of them come inside to shop.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Mort Fryman
Bad weather and increased competition hurt Oceanfront retail
business this season. merchants say.
Janice Creech, owner of Oceanside Gifts in the Beach resort strip.
KEYWORDS: TOURISM VIRGINIA BEACH by CNB