Grand Beach businesses cooling down for the season

A hot Labour Day long weekend helped heat up business after a slow end of season for Manitoba beach businesses.

The first long weekend of September marks the end of the summer tourist season in Manitoba. After an unusually cold August, soaring temperatures heated things up for one boardwalk business.

Lori Rotchik says her clothing store, Ke Lindo Beachwear, saw fewer customers than usual because of the cool August weather.

“There's just not a lot of people around,” Rotchik said while standing in front of her shop. “Parking lot's not full. There's not too many on the beach. The weather's windy, cold."

She said the soaring Saturday and Sunday temperatures was incredible for business after the slower August.

A heat warning was in place for Saturday and Sunday, attracting people to the beach.

"Best September long weekend. Weather was perfect,” said Rotchik. “September's off to a good start."

Dale Boss and her husband Terry Neplyk run a nearby tourist shop on Grand Beach Road in Grand Marais called Juan More Thing.

Unlike Rotchik, she said the cooler August weather helped bring in customers for her.

"The colder, the rainier it is, I'm busy,” Boss said. “Because I’m indoors, no one wants to be on the beach so they shop."

Neplyk is part of the Eastern Beaches Development Corporation that helps local businesses. He wants Grand Beach shops to attract tourists from all over.

"If you've been to the beach you know why you want to be at the beach. It's a destination,” Neplyk said.

He added that the area is working to improve community services. "We've been forgotten a little bit here in St. Clements," said Neplyk.

But business owners on the beach are getting older, and local beach communities want younger people to bring in new business.

"Our association is developing a rapport with people and I’m helping out with community futures, getting loans for people to develop business opportunities this year," Neplyk said. "But we're only open 100 days a year, that's the bad part."

Those 100 days end as the Labour Day long weekend comes to a close and businesses move to fall hours.

And as tourists wrap up their Grand Beach holidays, local business owners are about to begin theirs.