Amid Pandemic, Downtown Toms River Finds Life Under Night Lights

TOMS RIVER, NJ — For years, Toms River officials have looked for ways to make downtown Toms River a destination where people would come for dinner, shopping and entertainment, trying to turn back the clock to the days where it was the center of town.

Stores and restaurants have come and gone. The town approved craft breweries and small distilleries, and knocked down a motel that had drawn more trouble than tourists and deterred evening visitors.

But in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, where so many restaurants and businesses had to cut staff deeply or even close, Downtown Toms River has seen a glimmer of a silver lining in an evenings.

For five months, Washington Street was closed from Main Street to Robbins Street, allowing restaurants to put tables in the street to take advantage of outdoor dining that was allowed as a way for restaurants to cope with the lack of outdoor dining.

The closure that was approved by Ocean County officials ended a couple of weeks ago, but its legacy has been one of business that didn't exist before for some restaurants, and a boost for new businesses that opened in the midst of the pandemic.

"Outdoor dining has been a presence in Europe for years," said Mairin Bellack, executive director of the Downtown Toms River Business Improvement District, which provides support for promoting downtown businesses.

But moving to outdoor dining was a new experience in Toms River. It has paid off nicely for some restaurants that had a breakfast and lunch presence before the pandemic hit, she said.

Even more, there has been a symbiotic relationship between the restaurants and Garden State Distilllery, which makes handcrafted bourbon, rum, vodka and whiskey, and Battle River Brewing, a craft brewery.

The distillery, which opened in August, and the brewery, which opened Labor Day weekend, don't offer food. The restaurants — Daddio's Grille, A Thyme for All Seasons, Capone's, Crave and a few others — don't sell liquor. But they've worked in concert to create a dining atmosphere that was popular through the summer and well into October.

And diners took advantage of it. When the weather was nice, Daddio's — which had offered breakfast and lunch only — had 100 reservations for dinner per night, Bellack said. A Thyme for All Seasons had evening customers as well, something it never had previously.

"That's found business," she said. "It took a pandemic to have people change their behavior" and go to downtown Toms River to enjoy an evening out.

"It’s very difficult to change a business, and to get people to change their eating habits," Bellack said. "It’s an incredible thing to watch and be part of."

More importantly, she said, the majority of people taking advantage of the downtown dining were Toms River residents, and they continued to dine outside even after indoor dining was allowed to resume at 25 percent capacity.

"It was one of my colleagues’ ideas" to seek the street closure, Bellack said. "It’s snowballed into a huge success."

The barricades on Washington Street were removed in mid-November, but a slowing of business has been attributed as much to the cooler temperatures as it has to the removal of the barricades.

The formal Night Out is winding up Saturday, but Bellack is hopeful outdoor dining and the street closure — the county approved it on Friday and Saturday nights, and the businesses chipped in to pay for the closure on Sundays for tailgating for National Football League games — will have a long-lasting effect, becoming the new normal.

"This has been a great opportunity," Bellack said. "They really had been struggling for the last 20 years. They've been blown away by the sense of community."

"It’s unfortunate we have to go through this but it’s amazing to see everyone work together for a success story," she said. "We will never be a Red Bank or an Asbury Park. We will be Toms River. But if you give someone a good experience they will come back."

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