Hottest Weather Boosts Beach Town Business

“Ice cold water, only one dollar — three dollars at the beach!"

Jay Bochner yelled this sales pitch repeatedly as hundreds of beachgoers poured out of a train that arrived at Long Beach station at 1:05 p.m. Thursday.

“Don’t spend more money when you don’t have to,” Bochner adds as commuters pass his ice cream cart lined with Poland Spring bottles dripping with water from his ice cube-filled cooler.

It’s the second straight spring day when temperatures in the beach town have climbed into the 90s.

Bochner finds that a particularly hot day during the week is comparable to typical weekend this time of year, when schools are still in session and yet many as 600 to 800 commuters (his estimate) file off each train from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“On a real hot day like today, there’s a lot more people,” Bochner said. “They’re all coming from the city and boroughs where it’s usually 8 to 10 degrees hotter.”

Of course, when the warm weather arrives, sales typically pick up for businesses in Long Beach. But what changes do businesses see when the mercury flirts with the 100-degrees mark?

“On a particularly hot days, more people seem to come in for boogie boards, umbrellas, hats and, most important, sun block,” said Cassandra Boliva, owner of Long Beach Craft & Variety.

Located across Park Avenue from the train station, Boliva’s store sees its share of customers escaping the New York City heat. But when it’s scorching outside, it's the regulars who drop by for their essential beach items that keep her busiest.

“It’s the locals that keep us in business,” she said.

A few blocks down on the east side of Park Avenue, Melissa Barnett, owner of Salvage Chic, a women’s boutique, finds that the hottest days usually draw more customers.

“In 90-degree weather, I find people don’t stay on the beach as long,” Barnett said from the cool confines of her air-conditioned store Thursday morning. “And they like to come out of the heat and into the air condition and stay longer. I find the real hot weather is actually good for business.”

Next door, at Marc1 Salon, stylist Larry Ranucci was performing a process on a customer that he said is especially popular in hot, humid weather: hair straightening. 

“I see a change in business because of the straighteners,” Ranucci said.

His customer, Cody Yarwood, an 18-year-old Long Beach High School graduate who now lives in Oceanside, flashed his driver’s license to show how his curly, black hair naturally sticks out in all directions. 

“The heat definitely has an effect on my hair,” he said.

Said Ranucci: “Everybody frets over frizz in heat.”