Business owners reflect on summer’s ups and downs

Summer is “all about the weather here,” said Willette Piccozzi, proprietor of Dering Harbor Marina and Piccozzi’s service station. This year, “The weather was great, business was great; it was simply a great summer.”

While “great” may not be the adjective every Shelter Island businessperson used to describe the past season, those surveyed agreed it was generally a good year — at least until Irene made her appearance.

High gas prices cut both ways, keeping more people local both on land and sea.

“People didn’t take that cross-country driving trip but came here,” said Mike Anglin of Jack’s Bait and Tackle.

“The guy from Patchogue who usually goes to Block Island may have come here instead,” said John Needham of Coecles Harbor Marina.

While the timing of Irene put a crimp in end-of-summer revenues, Bridgford Hunt Jr., manager of the North Ferry, noted, “We didn’t sustain any damages or injuries so we count our blessings.”

ON THE WATER

“The marina was busy,” said Ms. Piccozzi. Going into the summer, “We were worried about it, economy-wise, but as soon as the weather broke at the end of June, it was great. Last summer people weren’t using their boats,” she said. “This year there were more little to medium-size boats. Maybe because the spring weather was so bad, people were out on the water this year.”

Ms. Piccozzi admitted to losing “two good weekends” due to the hurricane. “On Labor Day, even though the weather was good here, a lot of [New England] boaters were trapped at the Connecticut River. There was so much debris that they couldn’t get out. But otherwise it was a good summer.”

James Brantuk of the Island Boatyard said his first thought about the summer was “I can’t believe it’s over!” Overall, he deemed it “a very positive summer,” although he felt that transient boat traffic was down this year. “At $4.75 a gallon for gas, it just turned people off; it’s tougher to justify an afternoon out. But transients are not a huge part of our business here. Our regular customers came back, and overall, people stayed more local. We noticed that there were lots of moorings open this summer. We are fortunate in that we don’t have as many transient slips as we once did.”

Mr. Brantuk and Ms. Piccozzi both said that the summer didn’t get started until July 1. “Over the years,” Mr. Brantuk said, “I’ve noticed that the season has gotten condensed. People are juggling a lot of different things and it’s not that easy to get a day on the water.”

Over at Coecles Harbor, John Needham reported having a “fairly busy summer. I would say that traffic was down about 15 percent versus a year ago as far as visiting boats were concerned. But the people who did get out really enjoyed it.”

In general, activity in Coecles Harbor “was down, which I assume had to do with fuel prices,” Mr. Needham said. While some boaters might have stayed closer to home, “others didn’t put their boats in the water. Some people are taking a season or two off; others are giving up altogether.” The hurricane, he admitted, “was a tough, stressful ending to the summer. Last year we had Earl on Labor Day weekend so we closed down and lost that weekend. This year we had half the business we normally do on Labor Day.”

“It was a good summer, though not a bonanza,” said Mike Anglin at Jack’s Marine. “Gas prices hurt transit boating. I didn’t see as many power boats as I normally do and some boats never got in the water and others stayed in Florida. Otherwise, I’d say it was a pretty normal summer.” The fishing, however, according to Mr. Anglin, “was very good; we had fluke the entire season right off the beaches.” Hurricane Irene “brought an abrupt end to the season but traffic over Labor Day was “excellent, probably due to the washout the weekend before.”

The annual Shelter Island Snapper Derby, rescheduled to Labor Day weekend because of Irene, “had 200 kids participating. Families love coming here for that.”

“The summer was all about Hurricane Irene,” Mr. Hunt of North Ferry said. “It was a reasonably normal summer until then and then we lost one of the busiest weeks of the season.” According to Mr. Hunt, commercial traffic on the ferry “has been soft. Housing starts are way down, which has hurt, and cross-Island traffic has declined due to improvements on County Road 39” in Southampton “and the overall softening of the economy.”

Labor Day, he stated simply, “was a disappointment.”

On the south side, Cliff Clark of South Ferry saw the same trends. “From last August through this July, everything was down. Then July picked up and was even with last year and August held up nicely,” he said — until the hurricane hit. Seasonally, “Cars were up, trucks and other commercial traffic were down.”

ON THE LAND

Gerry Siller of Grady Riley Gardens had just returned from visiting a couple of Christmas tree farms when asked about the season. “It was a good summer. It didn’t end real strong with the storm and the weather but it got off to a better start than last year. We have lots of fall plantings lined up and are already thinking about Christmas.”

At Shelter Island Party Rental, owner Robert Strauss said, “It hasn’t been a bad summer; we’ve had steady work and have done about the same volume as last year, which in this economy is not bad.” Mr. Strauss admitted to tweaking his rental offerings. “We added larger tents this year to accommodate bigger parties and that has helped. “

“It was a great summer!” said Kyle of Kyle’s bakery and restaurant. In her second year running the eponymous bakery and restaurant, she said, it has been “all about controlling costs and overhead.” She didn’t take credit cards and was open only Fridays through Mondays. “I played it smart by bundling my business in those four days.” Diversifying into cooking classes was another plus. “My cooking classes were a huge success. I offered two classes a day every Wednesday” on topics such as “Indian, vegetarian, Asian, Middle Eastern, Mexican and French cuisines, as well as seafood, spa food, cooking for parties, cooking for kids” and even a couples class that she characterized as “a date night.”

The Island’s economy depends heavily on second homeowners, who drive the real estate market here. One indicator of how that has been doing is the town’s “two-percent” revenue, which comes from a two-percent tax on the price of most real estate purchases; it is paid by the buyers to fund local open space preservation. So far this year, the receipts are down by $367,000 over what had come in through August last year — and last year wasn’t a good year.

PLANNING FOR 2012

A number of new Island businesses did well enough this summer for their owners to think about returning next year. Shirley Ferrar of the Ivy Ladder on Grand Avenue, a home decor and vintage items shop, said she was happy with the summer. “It was the first season and people are just finding me. It’s been a very exciting first season and we’ll definitely be back next year.”

Tammy Moore, partner in the restaurant Fresh at Goat Hill, also plans on returning in 2012. “Absolutely, we’ll be back,” she said. She characterized the season as “Awesome. It was a really great summer. The hurricane hurt a little but overall it was a great summer with great people. Our lobster nights were a great success, as were pasta nights, which are still going on.”

The three proprietors of the new gift and home furnishings store on Bridge Street, Shelter Ego, were pleased with their inaugural season, too. “We have gotten a lot of positive feedback from year-round residents as well as vacationers,” Magda Gubala-Ryzak said in an email. “We got a few write ups, most notably in Newsday and Hampton Cottages and Gardens, that certainly helped us to get noticed.” Their customers have been coming in for “gifts of all sorts,” or “personal treats for themselves, so we tried to adjust our merchandise line-up to satisfy that demand.”

Year-rounder Evelyn Comer of Shelter Island Real Estate and Insurance said, “The summer was very encouraging. Despite the fact that we are a new business in a field of well-established competitors, we got off to a great start and were thrilled with the reception that our new agency received.”