The recent opening of Lucki Clover, above, in a Broad Street space vacated last September, is seen as one of many indicators of a strengthening comeback.  (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Without question, the losses have been significant.

Over the past six months, as the global, national and regional economies have struggled to emerge from the wreckage of the 2008 credit meltdown, Red Bank’s retail market has continued to absorb hard-to-shake-off business departures.

Primas Home Cafe. Willy’s Cheesesteaks. Soapmarket. Later this month, Surray Luggage, a Broad Street fixture, will hold a liquidation sale.

But more so than in the recent past, the downtown real estate market has been marked by two noteworthy trends: faster refilling of storefronts, and the end of several key, longtime vacancies.

What’s it all add up to? In a word, recovery, says at least one downtown Churn watcher.

Among new stores yet to open is Femme By Ashley, a lingerie and swimwear shop owned by Ashley Dupré. (Click to enlarge)

Jay Herman, a principal in Downtown Investors, which owns a dozen properties in the district, tells redbankgreen that demand is “absolutely” on the upswing. He attributes that to the end of a national bottoming-out, and to the interplay of five local elements: retail, restaurant, residential, office an entertainment.

“The downtown is leading the way,” said Herman, who recently broke ground on an expansion for tenant Morgan Stanley on Linden Place, just steps from Broad Street. “We are finding more success than is true nationally.”

Or regionally, for that matter. Herman says anyone driving Route 35 from Hazlet to Brielle and looking at the shopping centers “will find that the success in filling vacancies is not what is in downtown Red Bank.”

Here’s a lookback at some of the key activity in Red Bank’s main business district over the past six months.

• Print shop AlphaGraphics moved to 68 White Street, former home of Cigars Plus, and quickly saw the space it vacated in the City Centre Plaza, at Maple Avenue and West Front Street, leased to Yo Mon Yogurt, a self-serve frozen yogurt business owned by Michael and Jennifer Mann of Little Silver. AlphaGraphics is open for business and Yo Mon is under construction.

• David Banegas, an action painter who already had a gallery in Delray Beach, Florida, opened a new gallery/live-painting studio into the space vacated five months earlier by clothing store Bella Mystique, at 43 Broad Street.

• Nina’s Waffles & Sweets opened at 15 White Street, in a space recently vacated by Filakia Children’s Boutique.

Yestercades, a retro electronic gaming parlor, opened at 80 Broad Street, filling a giant, gaping hole that had defied filling since the failure, in 2007, of f LJ’s Total Man/Today’s Woman clothing store.

• Barefoot Bride, a gown shop that had called Fair Haven home for more than 45 years, moved to the 2,000-square-foot storefront at 65 Monmouth Street, former home Rob Amend and Michael Yavorsky’s of Red Ginger Home furnishings, which relocated to Broad Street more than a year ago.

• LoBoudoir Photography, which offers the latest in must-have hubba-hubba personal imagery, joined its sibling CLB Photography and Mike Hernandez Jr.’s Sounds to Go DJ service to take over the storefront at 21 East Front Street, a glass-fronted space last tenanted by the chic furniture seller Design Front, which left in 2009.

• Two dress shops moved in days apart, and one storefront apart, on Monmouth Street in November.

Jessy Krol’s Emilia took over 28 Monmouth, vacated in early August by Cocoon, an accessories retailer. Then,  Rue Royale Couture, specializing in prom and pageantwear, took over at 24 Monmouth, formerly held by Polish tableware dealer Adams Imports.

In between those two was David Levine Salon, which relocated to 69 Monmouth, former home of Cheveux Salon, leaving a yet-to-be filled vacancy at 26 Monmouth.

• Also on Monmouth, in the shop that formerly housed Miss Sherri’s Honey Child Music, Josephine More opened Innovative Nails.

• Kravings Frozen Yogurt opened at 90 Broad, filling another of the downtown’s most persistent vacancies.

Remember Altamonte Imports? Yeah, neither does Google. That was the last tenant in the space. Kravings owner Jill Pecoraro, bouncing back from the failure of another fro-yo franchisor with which she had contracted, shifted gears to create the new brand and outfit the gleaming, green-tiled space, which debuted in February.

• Kramer Portraits, which for the past 10 years had occupied a narrow storefront next door to the Jade Garden take-out Chinese place on Broad Street, took one of the two storefronts at 8 East Front last month. That’s the former Kislin’s Sporting Goods building, which vacated in 2005 and had no successor tenants.

As reported by Retail Churn last week, Vizzini & Company, a furniture dealer, plans to leave its anchor space in the Galleria at Red Bank on the West Side to take the second of the two storefronts, ending the building’s seven-year drought.

• Hair stylist Salon Concrete has signed to take over half the space at the 5,600-square foot 123-127 Broad Street, said salon owner Christine Zilinski. For years, the building was home to Surray Luggage, which moved to the opposite side of Broad several years ago.

• In news that broke on redbankgreen and gained national coverage, Ashley Dupré, whose infamous romps with Eliot Spitzer torpedoed his career as New York’s governor, plans to open a lingerie and swimwear store called Femme by Ashley at 15 Broad Street, a stylish storefront recently vacated by children’s boutique Lavish Kids. Outfitting of the store is underway, with an eye toward a May opening, we’re told.

• Jr’s West End, the Long Branch late-night hamburger and sandwich restaurant launched five years ago, plans to expand into the former home of Zuleyka’s Kitchen at 17 West Front Street.

• After five months of downtime, popular Red Bank coffee mainstay Zebu Forno reopened at a new address on March 1: 12 Broad Street  just a few doors down from the storefront it occupied for a decade at 20 Broad.

• Jonathan Erdelyi, a 30-year-old national racing champion, rolled out Red Bicycle Studio at 27 West Front Street. The 975-square-foot storefront was last occupied by Down to the Felt, a retailer of parlor games now operating out of 182 West Front, according to its website.

• Sunkissed Airbrush Tanning opened in a tiny second-floor space upstairs from That Hot Dog Place, in the alleyway beside the Dublin House on Monmouth Street in Red Bank.

• Lucki Clover, a women’s clothing and accessories store, opened in half the space formerly taken by Zebu Forno, at 20 Broad. The other half is set to be the home of a Boardwalk Fresh Burgers & Fries, setting up an interesting potential hamburger war with Jr.’s, not to mention existing restaurants.

• Workers were seen doing early prep work recently in the planned home of Subway Café, a 28-seat “hip” variation on the sandwich shop chain’s usual offerings, at 60 Broad Street, in a long-vacant space between the Red Bank Nail Salon and Hip & Humble Home furnishings.

• 12 Monmouth is being outfitted for Ice Costume Jewelry, which hopes to open in just a couple of weeks, store manager Ashely Goral tells Churn. The space was most recently home to Soapmarket, which vacated in January to become an online-only retailer.

• Elio Ventrella’s The Glam Bar hair styling salon – blowouts, no cuts – opened for business, after a glammy red-carpet style opening party. (That’s the salon’s designer lounge at right.) The salon replaces Butterfly Fine Arts at 116 Broad.

• Lucky Break Billiards and Café, opened at 14 West Front Street.  The gaming parlor, with five pool tables and a shuffleboard table, is situated within steps of five bars.

By JOHN T. WARD

Three Red Bank council members wore hooded garments to Wednesday night’s bimonthly meeting as a local group put out word of a silent vigil next week in memory of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.

A poster for the event, called “We Are Trayvon Martin,” encourages attendees to wear hoodies, the type of sweatshirt that Martin was wearing when he was killed in an encounter with a gun-toting resident of Sanford, Florida a month ago.

Councilwoman Sharon Lee, in a vivid blue hoodie from the Unversity of North Carolina, where her son attends school, tells redbankgreen she wore the garment on the council dais in solidarity with others to call attention to the stigmatization of African-American youth.

“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have one. We put our children out in them,” she said. “But if it’s that much of a problem, then we do need to desensitize people by letting them see them all the time.

“They’re just material things,” she said. “They’re not the substance of the person wearing them.”

Councilmembers Ed Zipprich and Juanita Lewis also wore lightweight sweaters with hoods to the meeting.

Organized by IMPACT, a youth advocacy group created by Red Bank native Darnell Lewis, the vigil is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at the pocket park at the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard.

“Community members will peacefully assemble and stand silently together in his remembrance and raise awareness on the national issue of stereotyping and injustices against African-American young men,” a press release for the event says.

Chief Steve McCarthy is expected to request authorization to hire three officers to combat rising crime rates. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s top cop is hoping to do some force rebuilding following the recent release of data showing a spike in crime in 2010 – and unreleased figures showing that it’s gotten worse this year.

Chief Steve McCarthy has asked the borough council to OK the hiring of three patrol officers in an effort to get the number of uniformed officers back to 40, the number it began the year with.

The request, coming as officials brace for what is expected to be the tightest municipal budget in years, follows the release of the State Police annual Uniform Crime Reports data earlier this month showing that both violent and nonviolent crime in town shot up in 2010.

And if the trends of the first ten months of 2011 hold, “we’re looking at another 8- to 10-percent increase” for 2011, McCarthy tells redbankgreen.

The 2010 numbers showed that the violent crime rate rose to 4.5 crimes per 1,000 population, from 2.5 in 2009. Though there were no homicides in 2010, following two in 2009, five rapes were reported, up from one, and the number of robberies soared to 26, from 10 the previous year.

Burglaries – classified as nonviolent offenses –  more than doubled, to 48, from 22, as the rate of nonviolent crime rose to 23.4 per 1,000 residents, from 19.1.

Echoing comments he made a year ago, McCarthy said he doesn’t get “too excited or too dismayed” by one-year changes, preferring to look at longer trends. After 2009, which was “a very low year” for crime, 2010 marked a return to levels seen in the years prior to that.

He noted that following a four-year period of 2005 through 2008, over which the average number of crimes was 332, the total fell to 257 in 2009, before shooting to 340 in 2010.

The upward trend in 2011, he said, “is nothing I’m happy with. It’s something we’re looking closely at” in terms of types of crime, where they occur, and other elements.

In a telephone interview Monday, McCarthy appeared reluctant to link the continuing rise in crime this year to manpower issues. But he noted that budget-driven furloughs of borough employees had reduced police man-hours by close to 1,000 hours in 2010. And, he said, “I think the police do play a role” in preventing crime.

The details of his request to the council have not yet been made public, but McCarthy said he is hoping to seek numerical replacements for three cops. If granted, the total number of officers would still be two shy of the level at the end of 2009.

The request is expected to be discussed at the council’s bimonthly meeting, which, normally held on a Wednesday, has been moved to tonight at 6:30 5 in the council chambers at 90 Monmouth Street.

Here’s the agenda: 11-22-11draftagenda1

And here’s the portion of the crime report with the town-by-town data: 2010_sect_7. There’s more here.

The 22-year-old Red Bank Catholic grad was treated to an impromptu fire-and-first aider’s parade through town led by the Warriors Watch Riders, who drove up from Camden County for the occasion.

“I’m pretty embarrassed, but it’s definitely awesome to be back,” Dilger told redbankgreen, seen above right with his sister, Grace. (Click to enlarge)

Westside Community Group president Amy Goldsmith, right, discusses the debate format with candidates Juanita Lewis, Joe Mizzi, Grace Cangemi and Ed Zipprich. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s Republican contenders for borough council were on the defensive Wednesday night as their opponents, and some voters, pressed them on their perceived sudden re-emergence as election day looms.

Resident David Prown asked GOP candidates Grace Cangemi and Joe Mizzi how confident taxpayers should feel in their representation, given what he characterized as their low profile between last spring’s candidacy announcement and now. Several questioners pressed them on the point of view that the pair say is missing from the current all-Democrat council.

In the evening’s most heated moment, incumbent Ed Zipprich called his opponent’s criticisms of the current council “absolutely ridiculous,” and said Cangemi, a former council member, hadn’t appeared at a session of the governing body since she lost a re-election bid in 2008, though she had pledged to serve as a watchdog.

“What have you done for the town in the three years since you walked out the door?” he asked.

About 75 residents turned out for the event, held at the River Street Commons senior citizens’ complex. (Click to enlarge)

In response to Zipprich, Cangemi said she had been working, and didn’t question his dedication to the borough.

“It’s not about campaign strategy,” Cangemi replied to Prown. “Really, its a matter of your accessibility when you’re serving. That’s when it’s important.”

Mizzi, who came up short in his bid for council last year, told Prown that the local GOP doesn’t have the resources to mail campaign literature to residents and put up signs.

Cangemi and Mizzi hope to unseat Zipprich and Juanita Lewis, both first-term council members.

The clash between Zipprich and Cangemi came amid an otherwise low-key and wide-ranging event: the Westside Community Group’s 15th annual candidate’s night at the River Street Commons.

Residents asked the candidates about issues that included perceived neglect of streets and other quality of life issues on the West Side; whether the town should sell its water utility; and, in the words of Marybeth Maida, “what voices are not being heard” that Cangemi would speak for.

“Joe and I bring a little something different to the table,” Cangemi said in her closing remarks. “It’s not dedication, it’s not hard work. But I think it’s really important that we bring greater transparency to the process” of managing the town.

Cangemi frequently struck a collegial tone. She said that although taxes had gone up, she would not “lay that at [Lewis and Zipprich's] doorstep, because taxes have gone up everywhere.” In response to a question about what Red Bank RiverCenter had done for West Side businesses, Cangemi said the special improvement district agency “has done a very good job of attracting a few new businesses, but the vast majority of those businesses have gone to the East Side.”

Mizzi took issue with RiverCenter’s spending on salaries and administrative costs, and said the town’s rent control ordinance needs amending to tame rent increases that outpace income growth.

Lewis stuck to a theme of Red Bank “making progress” in terms of keeping taxes in check, developing business and upgrading parks in a tough economy. Zipprich sounded a similar note.

“I think Red Bank has prospered under Democratic leadership and will continue to prosper under Democratic leadership,” he said.

Except for Councilman Mike DuPont, none of the town’s elected officials other than Lewis and Zipprich appeared at the event.

By JOHN T. WARD

Any expectations that a gathering dubbed Occupy Red Bank would attract throngs of longterm visitors similar to those protesting near Wall Street in Manhattan and elsewhere around the world proved mistaken Saturday.

Instead, a brief, low-key assemblage of about three-dozen people lived up, or down, to billing, as nothing more than an opportunity for participants to air concerns about economic and political trends, and to agree to meet again.

“The strength of this is what we agree on,” Connor Walby, who in his word “facilitated” the discussion, told the attendees arrayed in a loose circle on a concrete pad in Marine Park. “We agree that this is a broken system.”

Inspired by the month-old Occupy Wall Street movement, the session aimed for, and delivered, a rancor-free merging of frustrations over income equality and the influence of big money in politics.

One participant urged those in attendance to read Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States,” while another reported on what he’d seen over five consecutive days of visiting the OWS camp in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. A third suggested everyone participate in a November 9 national effort to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision, which found that political spending by corporations and unions is protected by the First Amendment.

A suggestion that the group reach out to elected officials in an effort to work within the political system was met with polite pushback. “I think what you do is create something that frightens the politicians,” said one man.

“Nobody got angry today,” Walby said afterward, as clusters of participants broke into working groups to formulate strategy on topics such as legal issues, media outreach and more. “We all agree there’s something wrong with the economic system of the world. This was a really successful event.”

By MOLLY MULSHINE

Autumn Byrd, 14, may not have a driver’s license, but the Colts Neck resident  still finds a way to shop, eat and hang out in Red Bank whenever she can.

“My daughter is always like, ‘Let’s go to Red Bank, let’s go to Urban Outfitters, let’s go to Funk & Standard,’” Autumn’s dad, Avery Byrd, said as he paid for a purchase at Backward Glances recently.

Autumn eschews the mall in favor of Red Bank because of the town’s artsy feel, she said. “A lot of the styles I’m into, I can find here,” she said. “And I feel safe in this town.”

If any trend is apparent in downtown Red Bank this summer, it’s the return of teens and young adults, lured to modest-priced clothing stores and eateries, including relative newcomers Urban Outfitters, women’s clothing boutique Dor L’Dor and Mexi-Cali chow purveyor Surf Taco, as well as staples like Funk and Standard.

Merchants see the influx of teens as a rebuke to the idea that the town is becoming too upmarket and squeezing out younger shoppers and others with moderate incomes.

Broad Street in Red Bank earlier this week. (Click to enlarge)

“People like to cry that whole ‘upscale’ thing, but I still see a lot of stores that are affordable, more mom-and-pop-ish,” said Funk & Standard owner Patti Siciliano.

Siciliano’s store, where shoppers can find clothing, records, books and tchotchkes, has catered to a younger crowd since it opened in November, 1998. There’s also a new organic and vegan juice bar at the store’s entrance, further solidifying its cred with young shoppers

Located within a few blocks of one another, Funk & Standard, Dor L’Dor and Urban “are like a team,” according to Leanne Navarrette, 20, of Red Bank, who both shops and works locally at Backward Glances. “I’ll get something you can’t find anywhere else at Urban and then I’ll run over to get a shirt to match it at Dor L’Dor.”

Some locals expected Funk & Standard to be threatened when Urban Outfitters, which is part of a popular national chain, moved into town less than two years ago. But Siciliano wasn’t worried.

“You have to have stores that are like you,” she said. “A lot of people, if they were me, would have kind of bowed down and quit when Urban Outfitters said they were opening, but I say that it can only help us.”

The right goods and price points are also key, store owners say.

Ninety percent of the apparel sold at Funk & Standard is manufactured and designed under the Funk & Standard brand, which is unavailable anywhere else. This enables Siciliano to offer goods that are both unique and inexpensive, she said.

“We keep everything affordable and we try to keep it as cutting-edge as possible without going too far ahead,” Siciliano said.

Dor L’Dor, which opened in mid-2010, also emphasizes low prices and singular items. The boutique gets small, frequent shipments, according to manager Chelsea McCain. Thus, “the chances of you seeing another girl wearing [something bought at Dor L'Dor] out the same night are very slim,” she said.

Part of a chain with stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Hoboken, and another opening soon in Summit, the Broad Street store is doing “really well,” McCain said. The inexpensive clothing offered at each location is “what people are looking for in this economy,” McCain said. “It’s fashion-forward, trendy merchandise at a low price point.”

Although teenagers of previous generations were known for their love of the shopping mall, some who frequent Red Bank say they prefer the downtown.

“I don’t really go to the mall,” said Kayla Jagusch, 17, of Eatontown. “It’s too cliché.”

Navarette also said she prefers the downtown’s laid-back vibe over the mall’s atmosphere.

“I stay around here,” she said. “If I have a party to go to, I know I can run to Dor L’Dor and get an outfit really quick and I love doing that.”

Navarette, who has lived in town for years, remembers Red Bank as attracting “more punks and skaters” about 10 years ago, she said. The clientele the town attracts now is cleaner cut, but still “with a little hippie twist … Red Bank’s really chill, and it attracts chill people.”

So chill, in fact, that Navarrette finds herself befriending customers, such as Autumn and her father.

When he isn’t dropping her off to hang out with her friends, Avery Byrd frequents some of Red Bank’s attractions, as well.

“I come for the restaurants, I come for the concerts,” he said. “There’s something for the senior citizens, 50-year-olds, 40-year-olds, all the way down to teenagers. And the kids are always going to want music and clothes, so I think they pretty much have a sustainable model.”

Byrd also recognizes the business sense behind attracting a younger demographic.

“Let’s face it – if you get the kids, you get the money, because if they get $20, they’re going to spend $20,” he said.

After spending the day shopping, kids are bound to get hungry — and the Surf Taco, which opened on Broad Street in March is the perfect place for them to go, father and daughter agree.

“It’s like heaven in a burrito,” Autumn said.

The Mexi-Cali eatery brings in tons of teenagers and young families, according to its employees.

“It’s really the only place that they can go where there’s no bar,” said Elizabeth Jaskiewicz, 17, of Middletown, who has worked at Surf Taco since March. “And two people can eat here for like $20.”

Elizabeth and Kayla not only work on Broad Street, but also shop at the lower-priced boutiques.

“It’s kind of like a mini-New York,” Kayla said. “It’s up-and-coming and trendy. You can always walk around and everyone has cute outfits.”

Kayla and Elizabeth and their friends also enjoy hanging out around town even when they aren’t shopping. According to Elizabeth, there are a lot more teenagers in town than there were in years past.

“Since I’m here I just go shopping before I come into work,” Elizabeth said. “It’s easy and convenient.”

Two prominent pieces of public infrastructure – one, some 140 years old, the other brand-new – have officially been renamed for Red Bank-area leaders.

Governor Chris Christie has signed bills naming the century-old Red Bank rail station for the late borough mayor and state Supreme Court Justice Daniel O’Hern and dubbing a new bridge across the Shrewsbury River for the late  Joe Azzolina, the longtime state Assemblyman from Middletown.

State Senator Jennifer Beck, who pushed for both, announced the changes Monday.

The rail stop, which O’Hern once helped repaint, is slated for a facelift that NJ Transit officials say could take up to four years to complete and cost $2 million. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places.

O’Hern served as acting mayor in 1966, and as mayor from 1969 to 1978. He later spent nearly two decades on the state Supreme Court. Red Bank’s Locust Avenue, where O’Hern grew up, was “ceremonially” renamed for him in 2009.

The Route 36 Highlands-Sea Bright bridge, completed early this year, is now the Captain Joseph Azzolina Memorial Bridge, said Beck, who worked on Azzolina’s staff during his long stint in the Assembly. Azzolina grew up in Highlands, served in the Navy in the Korean conflict and eventually achieved the rank of captain, serving on the battleship the USS New Jersey when it was off the shore of Lebanon during the Beirut crisis. A supermarket executive, he served three separate stints as an assemblyman, totaling 22 years in that chamber, as well as a two-year term in the state Senate

O’Hern died in 2009, and Azzolina died in 2010.

Rema Joseph had hoped to hang on until the end of the year.

Then it became a matter of making it at least until the end of month.

But a paucity of customers willing to open their purses  spelled an expedited end of her Red Bank clothing and accessories store, Cocoon.

Joseph shut out the lights one last time on Sunday, ending an eight-year run and joining the continual churn of businesses downtown.

“Things have just been quiet,” the Neptune Township resident told redbankgreen last week. “People come in and they like the merchandise, but they just don’t have the money to spend.”

Cocoon, at 28 Monmouth Street, was opened by Verona Isaacs 13 years ago, and Joseph, a customer, acquired the shop eight years ago, after leaving a career in telecom.

The last few years have been challenging, she said. But the final blow came with the recent Red Bank Sidewalk Sale, normally among the biggest weekends of her year. She said she sold just $110 worth of goods that Friday, and while sales picked up on the ensuing two days, the turnover wasn’t encouraging.

“The traffic isn’t what it used to be,” she said.

Cocoon’s departure follows news last week that Adams Imports, a Polish stoneware boutique located just two doors east, and  Stokaboka Surf and Skate, just a few doors west, are also going out of business.