There are no ripples or wake anymore, but the impact of no Schamonchi and no fast ferry from New London, Conn., has hit some businesses in Tisbury hard, especially along Beach Road where the ferries used to dock and disgorge tourists by the hundreds.
With the tragedies of Sept. 11 forcing many vacationers to postpone or altogether cancel their autumn trips to the Island, some Vineyard businesses find themselves in an unexpected financial pinch.
While the slowdown is inevitably affecting the Island economy, most business owners are taking the hit with patience and understanding.
"This is not just an inconvenience, this is an attack on mankind," said Sandy Berube of the Jonathan Munroe House in Edgartown.
With six shopping days left until Christmas, Tisbury merchants say the women will come early, the men late. Parking will be tough, but when isn't it? And though the wind may be cold the shops are warm, and the white lights of a Main street night alone make it worth the walk.
Vineyard Haven store owners are hoping this weekend will bring a rush to boost holiday business. December is usually one of the more profitable months of the year, but so far sales have been lackluster.
NANTUCKET - On a hot Tuesday morning, tourists clog
Nantucket's cobblestone streets, strolling from boutique to art
gallery to coffee shop.
Walking from Main to Centre streets, they sip a latte, buy a hooded
island sweatshirt and brunch at the Jared Coffin House, knowing nothing
of the obstacles this old whaling city has overcome just to serve them.
Now is always a good time to market a quality product, say a number of Island entrepreneurs opening new businesses this summer.
"Our idea ... was to kind of seize the moment," said Frank Pellegrino, opening a Mexican restaurant where Lawry's seafood restaurant used to be in Edgartown.
He said that he and partner Denise Page didn't want uncertain economic times to deter them from taking the lease to a valuable piece of property: Not many businesses come with parking lots attached, he said.
Like a twist on the old Homer Price story, it wasn't the doughnuts that piled up this weekend at Janice Casey's bakery in
downtown Oak Bluffs, but the signatures.
An investor group headed by principals in Conover Real Estate has signed an agreement to buy the landmark Navigator Restaurant and Boathouse Bar in Edgartown from its longtime owners, the Young family.
It's hard to imagine a less inspiring genesis. But for Christy Phillipps and her burgeoning fashion empire, it started with a couple of old blankets.
Her basement had no heat, but it was her sole workplace for sewing pillows and slipcovers. What she needed was a way to keep warm.
So she boiled some wool blankets and started cutting them up and stitching pieces together until she had created a tight-fitting jacket and cozy pair of pants, work clothes perfectly suited for a day spent in a cold cellar.
Walk down aisle nine toward the meat department at Reliable Self-Service Market in Oak Bluffs, and you quickly notice something different about the stock that now dominates the left lane. The coconut milk, the sacks of bulgur wheat and the jars of chocolate cream and eggplant paté are geared toward consumers whom some Island businesses say they can't afford to ignore - Brazilians.
A Brazilian flag even hangs off the far end of the shelf, signaling the presence of more than 100 items that cater to this immigrant community.
Moves are afoot to use the economic stimulus package being planned by President Bush and Congress to deal with the national economic crisis, to also resolve an immigration problem which threatens to leave Island businesses without their usual supply of foreign seasonal workers.
Cong. William Delahunt is pushing the proposal to restore immigration provisions of the H2B visa scheme, which have expired as a result of the Congressional gridlock over immigration law.
