Gas Prices No Deterrent For Summer Visitors

FALMOUTH- With high gas prices prevailing for most of the summer, a new term has emerged: “Stay-cation.”
Jill V. Gillick, manager of Liam Maguire’s Irish Pub and Restaurant on Main Street, said local business owners and managers use the term to describe the increasing number of people who schedule their vacations for areas close to home.
Throughout the summer, she said, the pub was filled with visitors from around New England, as well as states like New York and New Jersey. “They were definitely here, and they were spending their money,” she said.
At Under the Sun on Water Street in Woods Hole, many customers came from the rest of Cape Cod or the North and South Shore to “re-explore our state,” said store manager Margaret K. Cunningham.
As for business during the Labor Day weekend, Ms. Gillick called it “absolutely insane.”
The rain on Saturday brought in people who would otherwise likely be on the beach, she said, and though Sunday started off slow, it picked up again at night.
A block down Main Street, however, Café Villaggio waitress Tashina L.F. Amaral gave the weekend a mixed review. “I thought there was going to be a lot more going on,” she said.
Though Saturday and Sunday were pretty steady, the days “weren’t crazy” like they had expected, she said.
Overall, the summer was busy, but Ms. Amaral said it was unpredictable.
“Any time we thought we’d be slow it was busy, and whenever we thought it’d be busy, it was slow. It was just weird,” she said.
In East Falmouth, Robert W. Kogut, owner of Oysters Too on East Falmouth Highway, said that business over the weekend was strong, and on par with last Labor Day weekend.
At Oolala in the Queens Buyway on North Main Street, customers were seen taking advantage of discounts for a going out of business sale. The store combined its two stores—a home store and a gift store, both in the Queens Buyway—into one, in May. The gift store opened in 2000 and the home store opened in 2004. An employee who answered the phone yesterday said the weekend was busy, but did not want to comment on the store’s closing.
Back-to-school shopping provided no shortage of customers for some Main Street businesses.
At Caline For Kids, Mary A. Morrissey said that Saturday and Sunday were both steady, with the children of locals and visitors alike trying on clothes to get ready for school.
“We stayed busy, that’s for sure,” said Carol B. Chittenden, owner of Eight Cousins Bookshop. She said that because Labor Day fell on the first of the month this year, many schools had not yet started, so the tourists were still in town. “Everybody was out shopping,” she said.
Though questions were raised at the beginning of the summer as to whether the economy would negatively affect summer travel, Ms. Chittenden said that she has heard from other business owners that it has been “a pretty good summer.” She called it “a pleasant relief from what we’ve all been lead to expect.”
Bad Fish Outfitters in North Falmouth was also busy throughout the summer with sales consistent with or even topping those from last year, said owner Timothy B. Folan.
While the economy does not seem to have affected the number of people who fished this summer, Mr. Folan said it has affected the type of fishing that they were doing. He said that he has seen more people forgoing “canyon” trips to waters far offshore, which use hundreds of gallons of fuel.
Fuel may have also affected the type of traffic on Main Street, according to one restaurant manager.
Ms. Gillick of Liam Maguire’s said expensive fuel likely contributed to the increased numbers of walkers and bikers along Main Street this summer.
Ms. Cunningham, the manager at Under the Sun, also noticed a trend that she attributed to the economy. She said that people were more careful about what they spent their money on, leaving the store then returning later the same day after thinking about whether to buy something. “People are definitely more cautions with their buying,” she said.
Mr. Kogut agreed that discretionary spending is down, and said that how it affects locals will be a factor for business owners to be aware of heading into the winter.
Mr. Folan said that business is already slowing for the off-season. “You can already see it kind of dying off,” he said.
But Ms. Gillick was optimistic, saying that they have already seen an influx of European visitors. “Hopefully, it will be a great fall too,” she said.