It has been about a month and a half since Hurricane Sandy hit the coast of New Jersey and New York and devastated the homes and shops of some key retailers in the surf industry.
We talked to Jim Hennessey of Heritage Surf Shop, Tony G of Ocean Hut, Brian Farias of Farias Surf Shop on Long Beach Island, Chris Nieratko of NJ Skateshop, Ergo’s Pete DiSpirito and New Jersey-based Jetty owner Cory Higgins about how shops are coping, how insurance issues are being resolved, if rebuilding efforts are underway, and how the surf industry is supporting the relief efforts.
Jim Hennessey, Heritage Surf Shop
Heritage has four shops on three different islands in New Jersey. The southern most store on Sea Isle and its Ocean City Boardwalk store were the least affected by the storm, but Jim said the Ocean City store (the one off the boardwalk) as well as the Margate store had at least three feet of water in each of them.
Jim said the Margate location will need to be completely rebuilt since there was about four feet of water damage inside. He is excited about that rebuild but it’s going to take time. This past weekend, however, Jim planned to re-open Heritage’s main shop in Ocean City. “We’ll be 100% back to business, and can’t wait,” said Jim about his main shop.
I asked Jim how he was able to open so fast and how hard it was to get contractors.
“Fortunately a lot of contractors surf so we were able to grab guys right away,” Jim laughed.
“I had three independent contractors at one time, and we were really early on the process so we just did what we had to do. We didn’t wait for insurance money and we still haven’t received a penny from insurance, which has been disheartening,” he added.
One strategy Jim took to help with cash flow early on was to open a pop-up location on Asbury Avenue, a main shopping area, which he opened on Black Friday. Jim was able to have partially damaged goods professionally laundered and sold them to customers for about 70% off.
“It was great because the community really embraced it since they needed stuff, and we were able to keep somewhat of a cash flow going,” he said. The pop-up shop will stay open through Christmas.
In the meantime, Jim said there’s a lot of great holiday apparel and merchandise that just arrived from the surf industry and new racks he just received for the Ocean City location that are better than ever.
As for dealing with insurance companies, Jim said it’s been a bit of a “nightmare.”
“We hired a public assessor to help us with the claim. They want to see improvement receipts, but the problem is everything was damaged — even old receipts so we have had to go back to builders and our suppliers. We were denied an advance for rebuild money because we didn’t have enough receipt information. We just used our own money,” he said.
Jim said they have been getting more receipts from vendors as days go on, and that the industry has been supportive.
In the Ocean City area, he said most of the stores in the area where the real devastation occurred, were further north of his store.
“If you go north from our Ocean City store, it gets worse. Probably 60% of the other stores in Ocean City aren’t open, but all the surf shops around us are. It was about chest high yesterday so that helps. Surfers still need booties and gloves and nothing gets in the way of surfing.”
See Page 2 for an update from Tony G. at Ocean Hut and Brian Farias
Tony G, Ocean Hut, Lavallette, New Jersey
Tony G owns Ocean Hut in Lavallette, New Jersey, one of the hardest hit areas of the Jersey Shore.
Tony told us via email, “We are still down the rabbit hole. It looks like we could be back in our home by January. It will not be finished, but it will be livable. We just had the electric put back on, but there is still no gas
Our own store Ocean Hut is in for a face-lift with new window bays, new siding and a new roof. The floor will now be polished concrete with new counters, and the walls will have new build outs from my best vendors.
The plans just went out to the building departments for permits, and with any luck the electric could be on at Ocean Hut next week and the gas could follow after inspection. The workload is high between both places, but things are getting done. My surf time has been wiped out, but after all the insurance is settled a surf trip could be in order. We will be going down to Surf Expo, and it will be good to see everyone who has been so helpful in getting Ocean Hut back on its feet.
Thanks for caring have a great holiday!”
Brian Farias of Farias Surf & Sport
Brian Farias has stores in Ship Bottom, Beach Haven and Surf City, New Jersey.
Brian had five stores that were severely damaged by the storm, but sounded optimistic and grateful on the phone Thursday, especially for the surf industry and all the support he’s had through the rebuild.
“You realize how good the people you surround yourself with really are in these kinds of times, and the entire surf industry has just been amazing. The shop is in the rebuild phase. We had four feet of water in the main store. We had rebuilt the 8,000-square-foot main store with all custom carpentry only five years ago, and a lot of companies helped us with custom sections in the shop. It was doing really well, but we never expected there would be four feet of water in it.
“All of our stores were affected, but we are starting to rebuild the main shop in Ship Bottom this week (his only shop open year-round). Contractors should be done in February and then we will move on to the other shops (which are seasonal), after that.
The Farias Surf pop up store
“The first phase of the rebuild we took everything out of the store, then took down the first six feet of walls. After that, they power washed the building and came in with huge driers to dry it all out. Finally, it was all sprayed with a compound that kills mold and won’t allow mold to grow back.
“We opened up a popup shop for now. After two weeks of being in shock from everything that happened, I just thought that I had to open a store so I found a commercial space in a shopping center and signed the lease the Friday before Black Friday, and opened on Black Friday morning. That store has been a savior and the response from the community has been awesome.
“People are really happy there’s still a surf shop open so people can buy stuff for Christmas. We sold a lot of salvaged stuff that we had professionally laundered at a big discount, but we have also been able to sell a lot of holiday stuff that was high on shelves, and items are still coming in now.
“There has been steady traffic and the response has been awesome. There’s not a lot of other surf shops around, so it’s good we are open.
“As for insurance, we have been pretty happy with our insurance companies so far, but I don’t know how it’s all going to pan out in the end. I didn’t see my adjustors for a month, but now that they’ve come through we’ll be able to get enough money to get back on our feet. We had one building not insured at all, and that re-build will come out of pocket, but overall it has been okay. The only problem we see in the future is if we have a slow spring and summer. We need people to come back to the island and know it’s okay.
“We are so appreciative of everything everyone has done to help us and just wanted everyone to know to keep thinking about people over here. It’s still bad, but the community over here has been incredible and it’s been really nice to know how much the surf industry has been supporting us.
We’ll be out for Agenda because I look forward to buying some more stuff.”
See Page 3 for how Jetty has donated proceeds from its relief T
Cory Higgins, Owner, Jetty
Cory Higgins owns the New Jersey-based brand, Jetty, which was one of the first brands to make a New Jersey relief T-shirt. Cory lives above one of Brian’s stores across from the main Farias Surf and Sport in Ship Bottom.
He said it has been an interesting last month for him personally as he’s turned his brand, Jetty, partially into a charity arm.
“We created a (relief) tee the day after the storm and sold 2,000 tees the first 24 hours. We averaged two shirts a minute for 72 straight hours,” said Cory adding that Jetty’s own relief effort sold about 15,000 tees total now. The first $50,000 from the tees was sent to Waves for Water, and Cory will send about another $30,000 to the organization soon. Cory said even if they had only sold 200 tees, he’d still be stoked and would still be in the trenches helping out as much as possible.
Jetty donated to the local fire department
“Our goal has been to get money into the hands of the people directly, so we sent almost $10K to first responder teams and to fire departments and a few thousand to local businesses just so they could get up and running. We sent some to the local pizza and to the coffee shops so they could get going so people had a place to eat before going to work – you take those for granted, but once it’s not there, you realize how important they are to the community.”
Cory said right now is a “weird time” on Long Beach Island in New Jersey.
“There are minimal commercial places open and piles of trash still in streets and areas of LBI still destroyed. He said they are just now letting people in to rebuild houses, but there are many open lots where homes washed away, and a lot of houses with big red Xs that are now condemned.
“There’s still a mix of problems – they are still trying to get people’s homes gutted and trying to let them know how bad their mold problems are, and to determine if they can even go back to their homes at all.”
“For some homes, it’s too late and a lot of homes won’t be able to be lived in again. Also, a lot of the building codes are getting updated so just to qualify for flood insurance will require a lot of money for a lot of people.
“Just in this one town where our warehouse is, there are 80 homes condemned, so that’s 80 families not going to be able to go back to homes and another 20 homes that just aren’t there because they got washed away,” he said.
On the bright side, Cory said surf brands and the entire surf community has been amazing.
“Jon Rose at Waves for Water and all the brands have just been sending stuff –Vans sent us rubber gloves and water bottles and hats for people to help with beach cleanup. Al Merrick and Patagonia sent jackets, and ESM Surf Magazine organized a clothing food drive up the coast and came up to us with two 40-foot trailers packed with supplies it’s been awesome. Besides how many people have come out to buy relief tees, the silver lining on all of this is seeing how strangers have helped strangers. I am more proud than ever to live in this community and to be a part of it.”
See Page 4 for an update from New Jersey-based Ergo, which has been very involved in relief efforts
Pete Dispirito, ERGO
“To date, we have donated over $200k to Waves 4 Water and are working close with them on distributing the funds. Inspired by what W4W does normally, we came up with the idea of providing safety supply kits which include proper respirators, tyvek suits, goggles, gloves and filters needed to enter these toxic spaces. There are reports of people getting sick everywhere and last week we were able to donate 400 of these kits at a cost of around $20k.
“We plan to do it again this Saturday and donate 500 kits. During our Black Friday 24-hour tent sale, we raised over $100k through product sales. We also have a PA crew working with us and last but not least we opened a pop up shop that is crushing. These are just a few of the efforts that we have put forth so far working with Jon Rose, with a ton of other great things on the horizon.”
Chris Nieratko, Co-Owner, NJ Skateshop
NJ Skateshop has four locations in New Jersey in Hoboken, New Brunswick, Princeton and Sayreville, New Jersey
I spoke with co-owner Chris Nieratko Saturday morning about relief efforts and what’s been happening near his shops. Chris was one of the first people to rally the skate industry to send goods and supplies to skaters and locals in need.
None of his four NJ Skateshop locations were affected directly by the storm, an incredible fact, especially since the Hoboken shop is one block off the water and surrounding shops were damaged.
“Besides being so thankful we still had stores standing, we just felt absolutely responsible to step up and do something right away to help others less fortunate,” said Chris.
I asked him how the storm is affecting retail and if people are shopping at all.
“The economy is terrible in general and people out here have other priorities than shopping – they have to find places to live and food to feed their families, so I am not sure of any type of store is thriving. Any money people do have has to go to basic necessities and chances are a lot of people don’t have money because a lot of people aren’t getting money from insurance companies.”
The insurance issue has been difficult, he said. NJ Skateshop was forced to close for two weeks since there was no power in some of its stores.
Chris said he paid extra money every month for a clause that covers work stoppage, but was denied a claim from the power outage closure because the insurance company said they don’t cover downed power lines. “The insurance company told us we needed a letter from the power company saying it was their fault that we had no power and they’re not going to do that.” He said that he’s heard worse stories from neighbors, and that he’s pretty lucky compared to a lot of retailers.
As for the skate industry helping out, he echoed what I have heard from other retailers in that the industry has really stepped up. That morning, he had an email from Professional Skateboarder Mike Vallely who wanted Chris’s help and advice on helping choose five charities where he could donate $7,500 he raised from selling his own limited edition skate decks. “Some mornings like today are great, and others are really tough,” said Chris.
Chris is actually closing one if his four locations in Sayreville on Christmas Eve. It’s his first location he has had to close down. The decision came before Sandy hit, but since the hurricane affected about 70% of that town, there’s been no chance of going back on that decision.
“I’m not trying to be down, I am just trying to tell you what I see. There’s a ton of other stories of people who are just so incredibly positive and that’s just what’s so great about humanity. The skate industry has especially been great.”
