OCEAN CITY, Md. -- Labor Day Weekend can provide a nice boost for businesses, especially in places like Ocean City. For certain businesses in the coastal town, the extra bump might be much needed.
As one would expect on Labor Day Weekend, the beach and boardwalk were packed. It highlights the positives that came out of Ocean City from this past summer. However, business owners we spoke with told us they did experience their fair share of ups and down over the past few months.
"This summer was a a confusing summer, um it was good, ended up good," said Douglas Buxbaum, owner of Buxy's Salty Dog Saloon.
While Buxbaum does have a solid feeling as the summer wraps up, he told us there were times when the barstools in his restaurant weren't full.
"You wait for July, you got 4th of July and it's greenlight go and then that last week of July is started kind of sliding, but it picked back up in August," said Buxbaum.
He wasn't the only one to battle through a difficult July.
Keith Whisenant, General Manager at the Residence Inn, told us occupancy rates throughout the whole town were down 2.5% in July. The average rate for hotels was also down 3.7% year-over-year in Ocean City, according to Whisenant.
He did tell us the events scheduled for the next few months will help out and that they're on pace for a better shoulder season than last year.
Charles Heise at Liquor Depot in West Ocean City said that should bode well for them.
"Country calling I'm sure will be a big hit, they[Town of Ocean City] did a great job with Ocean Calling," said Heise. "Bike Week we always have a big presence over here so we kind of know what to expect for that one. But yeah, last years Ocean's Calling for us was great, a lot of people stayed downtown and came by us, visited us."
Business owners told us they are looking forward to the shoulder seasons, hoping events like Ocean's Calling and Country Calling to end the year on a high note.
