Madison Marquette reports seasonal record sales
New programs and tenants add to summer success
The numbers are back and not only did visits to the Asbury Park boardwalk and beach catapult this summer but business at boardwalk redeveloper Madison Marquette’s 40 tenants jumped an average of 20 percent.
“We spend an enormous amount of time programing these venues,” General Manager Carrie Turner said.
Madison owns and is landlord to all the shops and vendor pop-ups along the waterfront and operates the Paramount Theatre, Carousel, Grand Arcade, Wonder Bar [at right] and the Stone Pony.
“This past summer has had the best summer since we’ve been here,” Turner said. “It is reflected in the beach badge sales and in the tenant sales.”
Turner said vendor reported sales for the season are up 20 percent over last year.
“We are very excited about this because we are typically up 5 to 7 percent over previous year’s sales,” Turner said.
New this year to the boardwalk landscape were the redeveloper’s own Market at the Fifth Avenue Pavilion and Coastal Lines shops as well as Philadelphia based United by Blue in the First Avenue Pavilion.
“They had a good year,” Turner said. “It’s not easy to run a retail venue on a boardwalk.”
The Market [at right] is a cooperative venue comprised of local purveyors.
“It’s an opportunity for us to give folks the exposure they didn’t have before,” Turner said. “It’s the type of prototype we’d like to drop into the Casino Carousel building.”
Perhaps one of the more successful additions this past summer was the controversial Food Truck Court, known as North Eats, that brought six vendors to the north beach greenspace near Seventh Avenue.
Also new this season was the Boardwalk Mural Project installation, a collaboration with Parlor Gallery that features 11 new artists. A Wooden Walls Project reception is planned for 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Carousel building.
The Stone Pony’s Summer Stage reported record figures, Turner said.
“This was the largest Summer Stage ever with 20 shows,” she said. Attendance for the season was over 60,000.
Other popular music venues along the waterfront include regular scheduled shows at Langosta Lounge and its adjacent Yacht Club venues, Tim McLoone’s Supper Club, Watermark, live Latin Jazz at Cubacan, and entertainment at the Anchor’s bend and Beach Bar venues.
For more information, visit Madison Marquette’s website.
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