Jersey Shore’s Hand’s Hardware Store’s Future Up in the Air After Planning Board Shoots Down Two Development Plans

Two plans to transform Hand's Hardware Store fell flat at the Long Beach Township Planning Board meeting earlier this month. The board struck down both options, a 24-room hotel and a three-story retail building, casting doubt on what's next for this 73-year-old shore spot.

Elm H. Holdings LLC pitched two different ideas. First, they wanted to build a new store on a nearby lot. Their second pitch aimed to knock down the old building and put up a hotel with a pool on top. The board said no to both.

"The problem with the application for the hotel was they came in asking a little bit too much," said Township Mayor Joe Mancini, according to NJ Advance Media. "I do believe that they'll be coming back in again with a revised print, and it'll conform more to some of our zoning ordinances."

The hotel would have mixed lodging with retail: sixteen single beds, eight doubles, and shops below. Across the street, they wanted to stack 3,000 square feet of stores on two floors with two homes up top.

Since 1952, Hand's has sold everything from beach stuff to home goods. When the old owner stepped down in 2020, new owners stepped in to keep the lights on. Now they face fresh challenges.

At the board meeting, neighbors spoke up about cars and safety. The store sits near Fantasy Island Amusement Park, its wall painted with swimming whales that catch every eye that passes.

Mark Davies runs the project, and his kid owns part of the store. He didn't sugar-coat things: "We can save the store. We saved it once. We're trying to save it again now. Unless we move it and make it smaller and more efficient, it will die, and it will die quickly," Davies told The Sandpaper newsmagazine.

The owners' attorney, Nicholas Talvacchia, kept it brief when asked what's next. "They're evaluating their options. We'll see what they come up with next. I don't have any more information than that," he said.

Davies told the board the building needs $600,000 in fixes, and might still need to come down after that. Mayor Mancini pointed to big shifts in how people shop nowadays. "It's not economically feasible to operate a store of that size on that piece of property, so it's unfortunate things have changed," he said.