{"id":280729,"date":"2026-05-22T12:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/280729\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T12:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:12:08","slug":"beach-businesses-hope-for-strong-memorial-day-crowds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/280729\/","title":{"rendered":"Beach businesses hope for strong Memorial Day crowds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. \u2014 As Memorial Day weekend begins, beachside businesses are hoping for a strong start to the summer tourism season after a difficult year marked by hurricane recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Some iconic spots along St. Pete Beach remain closed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellwetherbeachresort.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">including the Bellwether Beach Resort<\/a> and its rotating top-floor restaurant, as well <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelucehotel.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">as the former hotspot the Postcard Inn<\/a>. While there\u2019s no projected timeline for the Bellwether\u2019s reopening, the Postcard Inn plans to reopen later this year under a new brand.<\/p>\n<p>On nearby Corey Avenue, a number of shops and restaurants are open this Memorial Day weekend that weren\u2019t in time for last year\u2019s holiday.<\/p>\n<p>That includes Cat Lepetit\u2019s beach boutique <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sundrunkworld.com\/?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=22158593229&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAqlytnjoYD4APOK_hwqVE5lNR3fqb&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjw_b_QBhCSARIsAP6hR4fDIUOemXViFNewyf0_hDeVayt6qX4uJIY8hdzXiIRL3pyrgCYsGjYaAmOZEALw_wcB\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sun Drunk<\/a>. She lost all her inventory in the back-to-back 2024 hurricanes and reopened formally last fall. She\u2019s hoping for an increase in foot traffic and more support from local residents, as more than 75% of her business right now she says comes from tourists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI try to be a positive person and look at the glass half full,\u201d Lepetit said. \u201cSo when I moved here, I thought this is the hurricane of 100 years. It won\u2019t happen again. It can\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just down the street at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chillstpetebeach.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chill Restaurant &amp; Bar<\/a>, owner Ken Hautmann says snowbirds and spring break travelers led to a strong start to 2026, but he has seen fewer local residents following the storms. Their business is vital during the slower summer months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen as many of the locals that we used to have,\u201d Hautmann said. \u201cThe tourists were here pretty decent for the season, and now we need to remind the people that live in Pinellas County that hey, Corey Avenue is here, it\u2019s open and we\u2019re back to good, so come and see us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Along Corey Avenue, several storefronts are still under repair, though many are expected to reopen in the coming months as the area continues rebuilding ahead of the busy summer season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. \u2014 As Memorial Day weekend begins, beachside businesses are hoping for a strong start&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1564,767,2031,274,558,770,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,14104,835],"class_list":["post-280729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-angie-angers","tag-app-community","tag-app-local-business","tag-app-top-stories","tag-business","tag-community-news","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories","tag-topic-latest-local-business-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}