Blogfinger photo. 4/1/18.
Our reporter Rich Amole spotted a sign at the site (#56 Main Avenue) of the now defunct Seaview Sweets candy shop which says, “Ocean Freeze.” Opening in May.
He googled it and discovered that there are other such frozen yogurt shops around the country. This location is near April Cornell, currently on life support, at #60 Main Avenue.
April Cornell is having a moving sale and will be gone imminently. They wanted to stay. This is a tragic loss for OG. What did the Chamber do to try and save April Cornell? Blogfinger photo. 4/1/18.
The character of Main Avenue continues to change, sliding towards Tourism Town, USA.
Here’s a recent BF link about Main Avenue businesses.
Main Avenue businesses closing
Other new businesses on Main include a perfumery, a pizza place, a yoga studio, and a Christmas shop. The latter is closed till May, as is the Emporium’s Beach store, currently being renovated, where the flower shop used to be.
Comfort Zone has occupied an extension shop at #50 Main (the new building) while their old store is still open pending renovations.
The new hair salon in town seems to be a bust since it’s not reliably open.
Sue’s Cheese on Main is still busy selling fine cheeses and other items. She has the best Stilton and superb baguettes from the Italian bakery in Bradley Beach and the crunchiest most addictive, all-everything, bread sticks. And Sue still is displaying our photograph of Left Bank Paris waiters.
Days Ice Cream will open in 33 days. Nagle’s should be open again now.
While we were downtown taking inventory, we met a Mom with her two grown children. She was desperately looking for an available bathroom. I think she wound up at Sea Grass. This is another problem that the Chamber has failed to solve.
Next month our downtown will be festooned with pink ribbons. The “Make America Pink Again” movement will rematerialize peddling what? It’s all slogans to benefit the Meridian-Hackensack-University mammography industry. Maybe this year they will want all of us to wear pink hats. Sounds familiar.
PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND “After You’ve gone.”
I think the shaved ice place will be overpriced snow cones, not frozen yogurt. There’s another one in Convention Hall called something like Betty’s Ice Box.
Why has Nagles been closed? I wish we had a coffee place with good coffee and desserts, and more restaurants open at night.
Not For: When I first moved here nearly 20 years ago as a part time resident, I began to study how the Grove was evolving. At first I saw a place that was getting progressively better in terms of historic preservation, culture, and lifestyles.
But in recent years I see deterioration in a variety of ways such as you have listed, and it’s a shame that it is not evolving in another direction.
I have hoped that the residents of the town, as you and I are, would feel proud of what would evolve., but that is not happening.
The nature of downtown shopping is just one element. My roll model would be Spring Lake’s downtown.
But, at this time, I no longer see hope for that certain special vision which I have defined in many articles on Blogfinger, so I don’t need to spell it out again now. You already have done so.
It appears that you have simply accepted your fate. That’s about how I feel, but it’s satisfying for me to write about cultural, political and historic issues in the Grove. One of our commenters calls himself Paul Revere, and I sort of feel that way as far as BF is concerned.
Thanks for your honest appraisal of the situation.—Paul
OG is now a tourist destination. What would you suggest as an alternative to the stores on Main Avenue? I don’t like the tourists jamming up town, taking parking spots, double parking on Main Avenue, and engaging in noisy, congested events sponsored by the Chamber. But that’s part of living here, along with high taxes, exploitative government, overzealous historic preservation, unavailable parking, and last but not least, reactionary leadership at the Camp Meeting. Like I say, OG is not for everybody. It’s nice here anyway, and you have to put up with the stuff you don’t like too.
April Cornell, one of the jewels in Ocean Grove.
Very sad this store is leaving.
Nothing can take its place.