H eadlines
Margate Continued from Page 1
the offseason.”
Ventnor City Police Chief
Douglas Biagi confirmed
Sandler’s perception. Biagi said
that, looking out his office door
on Atlantic Avenue, he could
see cars in driveways that were
normally empty by now.

Last year, after COVID
broke out, Biagi said, summer
residents escaped Philadelphia,
Cherry Hill and other densely
populated areas by decamping
to shore houses. Almost
overnight, a summer commu-
nity of second homeowners
became a community.

And throughout 2020,
workplaces and schools stayed
virtual, allowing families
to stay down the shore. In a
normal year, Ventnor’s popula-
tion plummets from 30,000 in
the summer to 10,000 in the
fall, Biagi estimated.

The Downbeach Deli in Margate on a Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Photo by Jessica Della Fave
bakeries and other businesses
still open, all the way down the
Ventnor/Margate strip.

“Pre-COVID, after Labor
Day, you’d look down Ventnor
or Atlantic Avenue, after 7
when everybody leaves, and
you wouldn’t see a car from
Ventnor to Margate to AC,”
Margate, the island’s grocery
store, believes that business
this month is comparable
to September 2019, the last
pre-COVID fall. Seiden lives
in Margate, too, and he isn’t
seeing too many cars on the
street this month.

The owner guessed that
From left: Downbeach Deli owner Buddy Della Fave and assistant
manager Liam Plante 
Photo by Jessica Della Fave
Subs, a popular island lunch
spot. Wainwright did acknowl-
edge “a little bit of an influx”
of new year-round residents.

But overall, at least for now,
the annual rhythms are likely
to remain the same.

“The whole area down here
needs the summer people.

They need what they bring to
the economy,” Wainwright
said. “You just wish you had
more of that longer in the year,
instead of just three months.” l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
Pre-COVID, after Labor Day, you’d look down Ventnor or Atlantic
Avenue, after 7 when everybody leaves, and you wouldn’t see a car from
Ventnor to Margate to AC.”
THINKING ABOUT –
DOUGLAS BIAGI
But last year, it only
dropped to about 15-20,000
by the colder months, he said.

Businesses stayed open to
support and take advantage of
the change.

“We’ve kind of reinvented
ourselves,” Biagi said. “We’re
not just a summer place.”
Biagi was referring to 2020.

But he still kind of feels that
way in 2021. It’s just not quite
as many people.

The nice weather has
brought families back down
during weekends. And the
remote work transformation
has allowed older couples and
couples without kids to just
stay. In addition to seeing more
cars, Biagi sees restaurants, dog
groomers, bagel shops, gyms,
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Biagi said.

So, is the shoobie dead? Is
the typical Margate/Ventnor
summer resident a year-round
community member now? Not
exactly. Several business owners
said their September pace,
like in most years, has already
slowed. Buddy Della Fave, the owner
of the Downbeach Deli and
Restaurant in Margate, said
he had 40 employees over the
summer. Now he has 15.

He also said that, in August,
his phone rang every five
minutes for orders. Now, it may
go a half-hour without ringing.

“It goes from 100 miles per
hour to 10,” Della Fave added.

Howard Seiden, the owner
of Casel’s Marketplace in
last fall, when “everybody was
down here,” was a one-off.

But he’s fine with that, as he’s
owned Casel’s since 1982, and
understands how to operate
on a summer-heavy business
model. It may be unconven-
tional, but it works, he said.

“There’s no such thing as a
shoobie,” he said. “I don’t like
that term.”
Everyone is welcome in
Margate/Ventnor, for however
long they wish to stay. But by
October, like in pre-COVID
years, the summer residents
will probably be gone again.

Society is reopening. Kids
are going into school and
playing sports again, and
their parents are following
them around, explained Tim
Wainwright, owner of Dino’s
JEWISH EXPONENT
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