THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608140038
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: REAL PLACES
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 94 lines
PEOPLE LOVE free stuff.
But will an entire carload of folks driving across a 23-mile bridge and two tunnels pull over so one of them can cash in a coupon for a free drink?
Absolutely.
``We had 895 coupons cashed in yesterday,'' says a sandy-haired Kenneth Malbon. Sitting in his office high above the waves in Chesapeake Bay, he's got his feet propped up on his desk and he's smiling. He can afford to.
Through a little one-way window in his door he can see tourists elbowing each other in tight aisles lined with bins of seashells and starfish, shelves of shiny candle wax humped into leaping dolphin shapes, T-shirts, hats, key chains, candy, and great big boxes labeled ``Nitro Express Fireworks Assortment.''
Tourists from Canada, Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania all come to cash in their free drink slips and then plunk down their money and buy. Rubber sharks, jewelry, jaw breakers, toy trucks, sunglasses, teabag-sized pouches of sand labeled ``Chesapeake Bay'' and marked 99 cents - it's all there.
For 18 years Malbon has owned the Seagull Pier restaurant and gift shop. The squat concrete building straddles the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel 3 1/2 miles out into the Bay from Virginia Beach. Right behind it, the road dips into the first of two tunnels that have linked the mainland to the Eastern Shore for 32 years.
Water to the left, water to the right, knick-knacks in the middle.
It's an odd place for a shop that includes a short-order grill and full-service restaurant. A wall of windows offers, of course, a water view and a look at the fishing pier out back. On those planks tourists can stretch their legs and their fishing IQ.
An oldster with a couple of lines in the water leans close when a visitor walks up and stops to admire his catch.
``That there,'' he says, pointing into his cooler at a fish and rolling his wad of chaw over to the other cheek, ``that there is a spot. You can tell because they have a spot. That's why they call 'em spot.''
The tourist hitches his camera higher on his shoulder and nods, ``Oh, I see.''
Malbon says he wouldn't trade this place for a prime site on the resort strip.
``We've got no competition,'' he says. ``Cars come by. Some stop, some don't.''
He shrugs his shoulders. At 68, he knows what it pays to worry about and what you just let go.
But in the beginning, business did need perking up. So in 1988, he came up with the stroke of genius that showed his insight into how people think. When a driver stops to pay the $10 toll to cross the bridge, he gets a slip of paper good for a free drink at Malbon's place.
``We put the coupon out and business jumped up 40 percent overnight,'' he recalls.
For miles on the way out here there's nothing to see but ocean, road and lampposts studded with seagulls taking a breather. Outside, the sun is a white, hot glare on the water. Inside, it's cool. Seems people were just waiting for an excuse to pull over.
The Sandells did. They're from New Vienna, Ohio. Here they are standing between the miniature sailboats and woven bags made in Guatemala, clutching souvenir shot glasses.
By about midway through their summer break, mom Crystal, dad Keith, daughter Vicki and son Keith David decided to come see this feat of engineering.
``It's an amazing landmark,'' says Crystal of the bridge-tunnel.
They paid the $10 toll, drove to the Eastern Shore, turned around, paid $10 more and drove back.
``We took a picture first,'' says Crystal.
Now they are here buying a few mementos and getting their two free drinks from the ladies at the take-out window - grandmotherly types who take the time to talk up a toddler and call everybody ``Hon.''
But the real action is across the aisle in the shop. Scores of tourists are scooping up souvenirs from an international assortment of gifts and unnecessaries. Yes, there are peanuts canned in Courtland. Also shell rings from the Philippines, and even some popular decorative covered wagons made in Mexico.
``I've had to reorder those wagons three times,'' says Debbie Newbaker, the concession's manager.
Nothing, though, is as hot a seller as the T-shirts that say ``Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.''
The five members of the Simpson family fresh from Ontario, Canada, are carrying around a few of those.
Dad Terry, mom Audrey and sons Adam, Matthew and Andrew have stopped on the bridge on their way to vacationing in Virginia Beach.
``We won't be coming down Highway 13 again because it's very slow,'' says Terry Simpson. ``But so what? I'm on holiday. We got some T-shirts, fireworks and a fridge magnet. And, of course, we'll be going to redeem our Pepsi coupon.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
KRYS STEFANSKY
The Seagull Pier restaurant and gift shop is an enticing stop for
vacationers traveling the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. by CNB