"The feeling right now is this town needs to get to full strength. We need to have indoor dining back, we need to open up the rides. We all kind of work off each other," he said.
Results from a recent survey of boardwalk businesses show the majority of shops are reporting revenue drops of more than 50%, and the majority also had to cut their staff at least in half.
"It's been frustrating, it's been tough. Our season is so short. If we don't get open back up very soon, some of these people are going to have a tough time coming back next year," Kazmarck said.
One in eight shops say they already considered closing for good.
The merchants association created a petition asking Gov. Murphy to allow them to fully open — 20% of the shops surveyed believe the season is still salvageable.
