Beach towns brace for socially-distant summer
The financial toll of long closures in beach towns could be calculated in the billions.
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CENTERVILLE, Mass. – For the last 86 summers, Four Seas Ice Cream on Cape Cod in Massachusetts has been a hotspot for beachgoers looking to cool off. But this season, amid the coronavirus outbreak, will be different.
Owner Doug Warren said it could be their hardest summer ever.
"I'm scared for the summer," Warren told Fox News. "I'm guessing that maybe I'll be at 60 percent of what I did last year."
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The ice cream shop is Warren's livelihood. His mom and dad met in the ice cream shop in the 1950s, went on to buy the place, and then passed it on to him. Although they have seen a lot of ups and downs over the years, this will be their biggest challenge yet.
Owner of Four Seas Ice Cream Doug Warren pours freshly-churned coffee mocha ice cream into a pint.
Without much clarity on when coronavirus social distancing restrictions will be lifted, coastal towns that depend on seasonal business could take an enormous hit.
"It's just so difficult to pay your rent every single month and then you have no income coming in," Warren said. "I'm scared for a lot of my fellow business owners here,"
Beach communities like Cape Cod rely on tourists flocking to their shores in the summer months to make up for the dead of winter, but with beaches and beach parking lots across the country closed, the uncertainty has settled in.
"This is devastating," said Evelyn Mars with the Jersey Shore Chamber of Commerce. "This is something I could have never, never imagined. Without Memorial Day weekend itself, that would be catastrophic."
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More than half of the people who originally planned to go to the Jersey Shore now say they likely will not go, according to a Monmouth University poll.
Ocean City, Md., plans to reopen its beaches this weekend – although a stay-at-home order remains in effect.
Warren said he remains hopeful his business will bounce back, eventually.
"I know that we'll survive somehow some way, even if we take a loss this year," Warren said. "Next year, we'll come back stronger than ever and we'll keep on going."
In Massachusetts, beaches remain open, but beach parking lots are closed to discourage tourists amid COVID-19.
But Sam Baxter, owner of Baxter's Boathouse Restaurant, also on Cape Cod, sees a much grimmer future in store.
"I really don't know if I'm gonna make it," Baxter said. "We'll see what happens."
Like businesses elsewhere that are trying to remain open amid the shutdown, Baxter's and Four Seas are both trying to compensate with to-go orders – but the bottom line won't be anywhere close to what it was normally.
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Warren said he is determined to get through the summer and ultimately pass the business down to his kids – just like his parents did.
"I'm honored to keep the tradition alive," Warren said. "Hopefully one of my two girls will want to take over the business someday."
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