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HOLLAND — The unofficial end of summer has Michiganders headed to the lakeshore and giving Holland businesses a boost.
It’s especially a boon for restaurants that still face challenges spurred by the pandemic. Tens of thousands of bars and restaurants nationwide shut down during that time, and those that survived continue to deal with the pandemic’s impact.
The Curragh, a family-owned Irish pub in the heart of downtown Holland, is one of the restaurants that made it through the pandemic.
“I’m super grateful to everybody in Holland and the surrounding areas for supporting us,” co-owner Sophia Leongas told WOOD TV-8 on Monday.
Leongas said some things, like supply issues, have improved since the pandemic. The problem is everything costs more.
“Expenses have gone up for real,” Leongas said. “Food is costing a lot more, which reflects in our menu costs.”
It’s the big items: meat, fish, potatoes and produce. Leongas said most customers have understood why the restaurant has needed to raise prices.
“It’s not cheap to eat out anymore,” Leongas said. “We like to provide quality and hospitality, it’s what we do here. Maybe people can’t come as often, but we hope they choose us as their favorite place.”
The pub is down in sales compared to last year. Leongas said it’s a “significant drop” between 10 and 15 percent.
“I’m not gonna complain,” she said. “A lot of restaurants were closed last year, every restaurant that opens up takes a little bit. We still had a really good summer.”
Leongas believes the entire lakeshore has seen less traffic than past years.
“I think the lakeshore has been down generally,” she said. “I don’t know if people have been traveling further now that restrictions are gone. It’s hard to tell, but tourism has been good, and we hope to keep continuing.”
Labor Day weekend has been a solid boost for the business amid great weather. The restaurant is seeing customers fill their patio.
“We’re super thankful to the community,” Leongas said.
Right down the street from The Curragh is Dutch Village Downtown. The store is still new, but it calls back to generations of Dutch history.
“We have Dutch gifts, souvenirs,” said co-owner Joe Nelis. “Everything from souvenir-quality items all the way up to the Royal Delft. We’re going to the Netherlands every few years to see what we can find and bring back unique things.”
The store customizes shoes and other wooden gifts on-site. Their main attraction? Cheese, ready to sample.
“We have 27 different kinds of Dutch cheeses that you can go right down the line and taste every single one of them,” Nelis said.
Nelis, who also owns the longtime Nelis’ Dutch Village, wanted to open the gift shop in 2020 before the pandemic struck.
“We had big plans and they all got shut down,” Nelis said. “We ended up being down 49.5 percent for the year. We were sitting on a mountain full of merchandise that we hadn’t sold in 2020.”
They opened their doors on Eighth Street in October 2021. Supply chain issues made things rough at first, but they got through just fine.
“We’ve been very fortunate this year,” Nelis said. “This store’s doing great. We’re in one of the best places on Eighth Street.”
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Supply chain disruptions remain today — they’re still waiting on a huge box of merchandise abroad.
“Our last shipment was in the Netherlands, sitting in the freight fort in the Netherlands for four weeks,” Nelis said. “We still gotta get to the bottom of that.”
Regardless, Nelis said, the summer has gone well and they’re generating more revenue than last year.
“We’re happy to be putting some plus signs in the revenue column here, too,” Nelis said. “(But) wage rates have come up with it. Rent goes up every year. You’ve got more money going out, but it’s always great to have the plus signs on the revenue side to help.”
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