By Dan Grote, published December 30 2014

Businesses that benefit from robust New Year’s Eve sales, including liquor stores, beauty salons and bakeries, hope the good times generated by the holiday falling in the middle of the week spill over to the rest of the week and the weekend.

Michael Bray, owner of Passion Vines Wine and Spirit Co. in Somers Point, said all the eves are dynamite for his business — Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

“The holiday period leading up to this point has been great,” Bray said. “We see it as being advantageous when it falls on a Wednesday or Thursday because people will take the rest of the week off. We see it spilling over into the weekend and sort of an extension of the holiday.”

Patti Bowdler, 41, of Somers Point, usually stops into Passion Vines twice weekly. Bowdler planned to visit a couple of days before New Year’s Eve to pick up a bottle of prosecco, a dry or extra dry Italian sparkling wine. She and her husband were choosing between attending a party versus dining out and heading back home to watch the ball drop.

“It’s (prosecco) very similar to a champagne, but much tastier. It’s fun to bring to a party. People enjoy it,” said Bowdler, who added she first tasted the wine at Passion Vines. “I prefer a sauvignon blanc. I gravitate toward the Spanish varietals. Michael will say, ‘Why don’t you try something else?’”

Jesse Adamiak, a salesman at Anchor Wine and Spirits in Surf City, said he anticipates that New Year’s Eve will be a big night in terms of sales, triple a normal evening.

Champagne will garner the most alcohol sales, especially the nicer brands at the lower end of the price range, such Korbel for $10 or $20. Based on his observations, Adamiak said vodka sells a little bit more on Long Beach Island compared with Manahawkin on the mainland. With the beach, more people drink Blood Marys, which increases vodka sales, Adamiak said. He foresees a pretty normal weekend on Friday and Saturday, with midweek sales boosted by New Year’s Eve.

“It’s actually beneficial that it’s midweek. Then, they will start having the bowl games for college football. That usually boosts sales,” said Adamiak, 35.

After staying open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Gleeson’s Discount Liquors will have abbreviated hours on New Year’s Day, which Gleeson’s general manager Megan Peifer calls the slowest day of the year. Peifer said New Year’s Eve sales could go either way with the night falling in the middle of the week. At her store, Gleeson said, New Year’s Eve can’t compare to weekends during the summer.

“People are really getting into the proseccos and the cavas. They are exploring things other than champagne,” Peifer said.

New Year’s Eve is the only night of the year that the Lobster House in Lower Township takes reservations for dinner, which it calls priority seating, said Mark Ryan, the restaurant’s general manager. The same band that played on New Year’s Eve at the restaurant for the past 11 years, Love Affair, has been booked again. Between the upstairs and downstairs seating, Ryan estimates 1,200 dinners will be served on New Year’s Eve. At least 200 people are usually at the bar in the restaurant watching the ball drop and listening to Love Affair, he said.

By Dec. 19, the Lobster House already had two pages of priority seating for New Year’s Eve, Ryan said.

“The people who are going out on New Year’s Eve, they already know where they are going. They have been here numerous times. They are usually repeat customers. You don’t get that many walk-ins on New Year’s Eve,” Ryan said. “Last year was a great year for us. This year is looking to be the same.”

All About Hair Salon in Pleasantville has scheduled regular hours for New Year’s Eve, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., owner Sonja Nixon said.

Most of the women who want their hair worked on for New Year’s Eve make their appointments Dec. 30 or 31. Women come in looking for an updo, where the hair is piled on top of the head instead of flowing freely, or a full sew-in weave, which is a method of adding hair extensions. An updo can cost $45, while a full sew-in can cost $125. A positive aspect of these hairstyles is that they can be sustained for a while.

An updo lasts for a week, while the full sew-in can be maintained for at least six weeks before another appointment is needed, Nixon said.

“All six stylists will be working. Each (stylist) will have one or two people who will be going out on New Year’s Eve,” said Nixon, who added after being closed Thursday, she expects an average number of customers coming into her shop Friday and Saturday.

Wards Pastry in Ocean City is busy during the Christmas season making cookies, pies and dinner rolls, as opposed to the doughnuts and danishes of the summertime, owner Walter Hohman said.

“We do a lot of cakes for New Year’s Eve, dinners rolls, not as much. People are kind of doing party trays as opposed to rolling lunch meat into sandwiches and stuff like they used to. We do some rolls for meatball sandwiches. There is a lot of grab-and-eat things like cookie trays or butter cookies or mini-danish and mini-pastries,” said Hohman, who added that his Asbury Avenue business is open year-round.

New Year’s Eve week will be pretty good as 10,000 people will visit Ocean City for its First Night New Year’s Eve event, Hohman said.

“I’m anticipating a really good, long weekend, like when you get Fourth of July on a Thursday, everyone takes Friday off. I’m expecting something like that. That’s what I’m hoping for. I think it should be a long weekend kind of thing. I know my wife, I believe, she took off on Friday. She was able to do that from where she works. When they can, they are going to do that,” Hohman said.

Contact Vincent Jackson:

609-272-7202

VJackson@pressofac.com