Tom Fletcher lives in the southern part of Melbourne Beach. The Publix market on South A1A is a few miles away. But he frequents Melbourne Beach Market on Ocean Avenue, the primary retail drag in a town with far fewer shops than its neighbors to the north.
“I like the diversity of the store,” said Fletcher as he shopped with his 3-year-old son, Jack, on May 13, citing the selections of wine and beer, and the deli, among other attractions. “This store also has a unique feel to it. They carry this great hot sauce that’s hard to find.”
There’s another reason Fletcher prefers the market. “I appreciate local businesses.”
In an age of ever increasing internet shopping when even many big box stores like HH Gregg and Sports Authority can’t survive and department-store chains struggle to keep afloat, the small businesses that form the business backbone of beachside towns succeed by offering something larger markets don’t and tapping into the “buy local” mentality of residents and visitors.
“I carry stuff the competition does not,” said Charlie Zubi, who owns Melbourne Beach Market and stocks a wide selection of wine from Greece, India and similar locales. The store includes a fresh meat counter, New Yorkstyle pizza and almost any tea or soft drink imaginable.
Zubi said the diversity attracts clientele from all over, not just Melbourne Beach. “With the competition from the big boys, I have to be different,” he said.
For the most part, the appeal is as much nostalgic as is it convenient. Realtor Lee Romano, of Re/Max Aerospace Realty, said Melbourne Beach is a throwback to a generation when mom-and-pop stores ruled retail, before the rise of malls and mega-stores. That model is working in the close-knit beachside town.
“There are no vacancies in Melbourne Beach,” Romano said. “The economy is good.”
Retail is also thriving in neighboring towns to the north like Indialantic, Indian Harbour Beach and Satellite Beach. But these towns have elected to include in their retail mix chain stores such as CVS, Walmart, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Bealls Department Store and Publix, most along A1A. You won’t find such establishments in Melbourne Beach and that’s just the way the town likes it.
“Melbourne Beach’s Town Charter says we are a residential community with limited businesses to serve the needs of the residents,” Mayor Jim Simmons said. Zoning limits retail to Ocean Avenue east of Oak Street plus a few other small areas.
“We can’t accommodate a lot of retail and have no locations that would easily accommodate a big chain,” Simmons said.
Many Melbourne Beach businesses are service oriented – restaurants, bars, hair salons/barbers, real estate, a gas station. “The pool supply business, surf shop, pharmacy, jewelry, bait and tackle and grocery stores seem to be solid, stable businesses,” Simmons said. “They have each been in their locations quite a while and have adjusted their products and services as needed to fit their markets.”
“There are way more retail areas in Indialantic so there is more opportunity for franchises to come in and pay a higher dollar amount to lease,” said Anthony Romero, who handles commercial accounts at Dale Sorensen Real Estate in Indialantic.
Romero said while a handful of vacancies exist in Indialantic, it certainly doesn’t spell a downward trend.
“This is a great retail environment and doing better. Indialantic – and the other island communities – have become more and more desirable,” he said.
The common thread running up and down A1A is that beachside residents seek a respite from the mainland when it comes to shopping.
“When you cross the bridge it’s like going on vacation; you don’t want to venture out from there,” said Dr. B. Andrews Cudmore, professor at the Nathan Bisk College of Business at Florida Institute of Technology. “People go to places they relate to. They want to have coffee or food and hang out on the island.”
Businesses with a connection to the beach are especially popular beachside. Hence, the presence of surf shops up and down the coast. Nothing spells beach more than a surf shop.
Even with a preponderance of brick-and-mortar stores, the e-commerce revolution has still made inroads. Most small local businesses on the island have websites and Facebook pages. Savers Drug Mart in Melbourne Beach allows refills online as major chains do.
“Logically all businesses are affected by the online phenomenon,” Cudmore said. “But such a local business has some sort of protection from online sales.”
Nationwide, 8.1 percent of sales last year came from e-commerce, according to the National Retail Federation. That is a dramatic increase from 2012 when just 5 percent of retail sales took place online, but it isn’t about to push physical stores off the map altogether.
“While the fastest growth is online, this is not us versus them,” said National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay. “A sale is a sale. Seven out of the top 10 and 21 of the top 25 largest e-commerce platforms are operated by brick-and-mortar retailers. The most successful retailers are figuring out how to use all channels, creating a seamless shopping experience for their customers.”
