VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Visitors looking for one last taste of summer traveled to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront for the long weekend of Labor Day.
Melissa Jackson, who traveled all the way from Florida to be here, was impressed by how kind everyone was on the beach.
“It’s very beautiful. No problems, no nothing. Everybody’s friendly, nice,” Jackson said.
Another person, Lachrisah Mitchell, recently moved to Virginia Beach. A group of her pals from New Jersey were able to make the trip to see her for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
“We absolutely love being able to get back to something normal, to out and about, to see people, families,” said Mitchell.
Some stores have said that sales have gone up because of all the weekend and summer visitors.
Tino DeStefano now holds the position of general manager at the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront. He reported that things were going quite well. According to DeStefano, staffing issues have been a drag on sales over the last two years. However, he noted that this summer, more employees are working at the hotel, and more guests are checking in.
“We’ve had a lot of groups show up, so it’s been good… We sold out yesterday. We sold out Saturday. The restaurants are really really busy. We served 1800 people yesterday,” said DeStefano.
But over at Katie’s 33rd Street Café, they had a different experience this summer, and they are looking forward to seeing more customers.
“Generally this summer has been less busy than normal…and the reason is unsure but generally business has been down this year,” said employee Michelle Guins.
A number of business owners have expressed their optimism about the possibility of a busy season after the Labor Day weekend. They are keeping their fingers crossed that upcoming activities such as the Neptune Festival will help them get back on track.
