WHITE ROCK — Get your flip-flops and sunglasses ready because beachside businesses in White Rock are hustling, thanks to the foot traffic along Marine Drive during the summer.
With Canada Day unofficially kicking off the season, businesses are gearing up for more summer events, including the Sea Festival, the Moon Festival and the pier's 100th birthday.
Lynne Sinclair, White Rock Business Improvement Association (BIA) president and a former White Rock city councillor, said summer is definitely tailored for beach businesses.
"Summer somewhat sells itself," Sinclair said. "There are a lot of differentevents during the summer that are focused on the beach. Our challenge is always to ensure that we capitalize on those events with other businesses around the town as well," she added.
After teaming up with the city and Tourism White Rock to keep the free, summer trolley service, the BIA and Sinclair believe that helping people get to and from the beach is vital this summer.
"We also want to advocate for increased transit and ensuring that we've got ways of transporting people down to the beach because of the lack of parking down there," Sinclair said.
After being a co-owner of Moby Dick's Seafood Restaurant for six years, James Morrison knows the summer months are vital to beachfront businesses.
"July and August are make-it-or-break-it months. It gives you an idea of how the year is going. If you have two good, strong months, then it carries you right through up to December," Morrison said. He also said that he could potentially earn 50 per cent of his annual revenue over the season and that his staff has slowly become accustomed to dealing with the volume of customers who come to his restaurant on a nice, summer day.
"On average, we cut maybe 450 pounds (of fish) a day over July and August and we go through 700 pounds of potatoes a day," Morrison said.
Like the rest of the businesses along Marine Drive, the Ocean Promenade Hotel is ready for the busy season.Russell Hoffmann is in charge of sales and marketing at the hotel. He expects a great summer in White Rock.
"July and August are the highest months. It's when the kids are out of school is when it starts getting busy," Hoffmann said. Ocean Promenade is the only hotel in White Rock and Hoffmann said being steps away from East Beach makes the hotel popular to locals and celebrities.
He said that actors such as Danny DeVito, Tom Lennon, Craig Robinson and most recently, Chiwetel Ejiofor - who starred in the Academy Award's Best Picture of 2013, 12 Years a Slave - have all stayed at the hotel.
"Location wise, being around the beach definitely makes it a popular location," Hoffmann said.