Downtown Toms River business incubator off to a slow start
Nearly six months after the Toms River Business Improvement District launched the opening of The Downtown Shops @53 Main to help new entrepreneurs by offering low rent and mentoring in the former Tommy's restaurant building, some of the tenants said it has been a work in progress, but they remain hopeful foot traffic will pick up as word of mouth spreads.
Marybeth Beers grew up in Toms River and seized the opportunity to turn her hobby of making and repairing jewelry into a business downtown. The Bead Project is among seven stores now up and running @53 Main. She has been there since the grand-opening in mid-July.
Beers said business has been on and off because not many people know much about the new shopping site, but she noted now that most of the stores are filled, they are working together to advertise.
"The word is definitely getting out and with more stores opening, it's drawing more traffic, but it's a slow start so far," said Beers.
The Bead Project is open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm.
"The late afternoon is probably the busiest time, and it's mostly from people that work downtown that are doing the shopping," Beers said.
Toms River High School South is within walking proximity, and Beers also is hoping to attract younger customers with so many students frequenting downtown for lunch during the week.
"The goal is to attract some of the high school students," Beers said, but she added, because their break is limited, the students are usually just eating and not shopping.
Beers gets a good amount of business from custom orders, restringing, and repairing jewelry, but continues to come up up with other creative ways to attract customers, including using extra room in her shop for workshops, fundraisers, Girls Night Out events and Birthday parties.
"I'm definitely going to fulfill my year lease, and hopefully be able to stay there. It's a very reasonable rent, but at the same time it hasn't quite picked up yet, so I'm just going to try as hard as I can and go off making it more of a place for people to come and go to do things rather than just to shop, because that seems to be what's attracting people," said Beers.
Lisa Yanoschak, owner of The Locket Closet, said starting up has been a work in progress.
"Our funds are limited for advertising, so we've really been relying on word of mouth and whatever, local, small advertising we can do on social media. We did very well for Christmas, which was nice," said Yanoschak.
Yanoschak said her shop appeals to a lot of different people because she offers inspirational and positive items as well as Scripture pieces.
"What I'm finding now is, there are people that are coming in that live in Toms River and they didn't know we were here, so you know, we have to deal with that, we have to deal with the way the storefront looks, those little obstacles that we have that we have to overcome," Yanoschak said.
Yanoschak noted that there had been about 4 stores open @53 Main until recently, but that having seven operating now seems to be helping generate more traffic.
Yanoschak actually expanded her store and occupies two spaces. The other shops @53 Main include The Boutique at Face to Fase, Lindsay Tate Creates, Ocean Organics, Gorgeous Girls, and Puzzle Crafters, according to Yanoschak.
Yanoschak pointed out the Toms River Business Improvement District has helpful in setting up shop owners with help creating business plans and providing suggestions on different avenues where they might branch out to.
Yanoschak praised the small business incubator for allowing owners like herself to have the opportunity to start up in a smaller 200 square foot space as opposed to a fully stocked 1,500 square foot store.
"It's actually so much more reasonable for new businesses because you get to test the waters without spending a lot of money, and that's what we're doing now," Yanoschak said.
Yanoschak said her inspiration appeal attracts many church groups who have given her positive feedback about her store, as well as the the set-up of the shops. She also said many people have compared the Downtown Shops @53 Main to a Red Bank, Spring Lake and Lambertville in the making.
"They see Downtown Toms River as having great, great bones. There's a lot of things that need to be taken care of down here to help build this downtown area up, but the bones are good, and that's the part that I really saw. I saw the potential. I saw maybe five year from now where this place could really be," added Yanoschak.
More From 94.3 The Point
