Catching the First Wave<\/strong><\/p>\nA number of waterfront businesses have successfully adapted to take advantage of the cruise-ship influence. At DiMillo\u2019s on the Water, passengers account for 15 to 20 percent of lunch business when a ship pulls in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are definitely busier on days the liners are in town,\u201d says Steve DiMillo, Sr. \u201cThere\u2019s no denying our location [on Long Wharf] helps, and so does our focus on serving up local flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Topher Mallory, owner of Mexicali Blues chain, also surfs the wave. With two boutique retail attractions on Moulton Street and four more stores in Southern Maine, \u201cWe certainly notice the difference when cruise ships are in town. The increase in tourists was a catalyst for opening our second store on Moulton a year ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The objective, he says, is to predispose their disposable income the moment they tie up to the dock.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe make an effort to reach the multichannel consumer through social media and e-commerce. We make passengers aware of our online store, we follow up with them through our Facebook page\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Still Looking for the Crystal Ball<\/strong><\/p>\nNot that everyone feels the bump. Shops located further from the waterfront and boutiques selling specialty merchandise like fine art, jewelry, and beauty products admit to feeling adrift.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe might see some, but it\u2019s a very small percentage,\u201d says Rachel Lynn Watson, manager and buyer for Bliss, a boutique on Exchange Street.<\/p>\n
Nelly Hall, proprietor of CS Boutique on Fore Street, says \u201cIt\u2019s difficult for many of us to predict the impact we will see, and it varies [without much of a trend] from ship to ship,\u201d she says. \u201cThe perception is that we can include cruise passenger patronage into our business plans, that cruise tourism is our bread and butter. But for me and other [merchants] I\u2019ve spoken with, it\u2019s a challenge to know when to add extra staff and increase inventory.\u201d<\/p>\n
First Impressions<\/strong><\/p>\nTo better understand Portland\u2019s opportunities, let\u2019s consider what we do right now the moment a ship pulls up to a pier.<\/p>\n
Janice Beitzer, executive director of Portland Downtown District, says, \u201cThe CVB and PDD have met the cruise ships for 15 years. Info agents in L.L. Bean gear are there right as people get off the cruise ships. Every<\/em> passenger receives a Downtown Portland directory. We have several visitor booths and \u2018experiential learning\u2019 booths\u2013informative but with no sales involved\u2013on the dock, along with a band\u2013sometimes Don Campbell.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\nSecond Impressions<\/strong><\/p>\nAs for what the passengers are seeing when they look through their portholes beyond the futuristic architecture of the Ocean Gateway Terminal, the city claims, \u201cPortland has a great [berthing] location, welcoming and attractive. Some ships drop you off at ports located in industrial parks.\u201d<\/p>\n
A quick stroll down Hancock Street, which spills off the gangplank of Ocean Gateway, tells a different story\u2013vast expanses of parking lots and empty storefronts abound.<\/p>\n
The need for high-end retail here, fulfilling the original visions for Ocean Gateway, is palpable, and it\u2019s a bit hard to believe at first glance that the charm of the Old Port is less than a quarter mile away. As one passenger on cruisecritic.com puts it, \u201cRecommendation\u2013Stay on the ship!!!! [Exiting] the boat\u2026sidewalks were in horrible shape\u2026. Many buildings [were] vacant with graffiti and litter throughout the streets. Public restrooms were awful, and I honestly felt unsafe.\u201c<\/p>\n
Contrast that with a review of Bar Harbor from the same site: \u201cA beautiful trip into port and an equally beautiful port town! The views in the harbor are outstanding!\u201d<\/p>\n
City planners take note: The future waits for us at the foot of the pier.<\/p>\n
Opportunity Calling<\/strong><\/p>\nCardente Real Estate is dangling gorgeous office space as bait for high-end retailers: \u201c5,400 SF on the ground floor of the Ocean Gateway Garage at the corner of India and Fore Streets. One block up from Portland\u2019s Ocean Gateway Terminal and eastern waterfront. This retail space is ideally located next to the new Marriott Residence Inn, close to the Old Port [with] great access and exposure to all the cruise ship passengers disembarking from the Ocean Gateway Terminal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alluring: the $18 per square foot rate that compares to $30 in the Old Port.<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\nCash Send-Off?<\/strong><\/p>\nMeanwhile, the urban myth that busses lined up at the head of the pier are all headed out of town would lead anyone to ask, \u201cWhy are they driving income away from Portland?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an understandable perception, especially when the average tourist off to Freeport spends double what they would spend if they stayed in Portland.<\/p>\n
The UMO study tells a different story. Less than five percent of passengers head to Freeport, and Freeport spending accounts for less than ten percent of total spending.<\/p>\n
Additionally, according to Patrick Arnold, executive director of Discover Portland & Beyond, a consortium of local merchant and visitor organizations, \u201cA variety of shore excursion destinations entices passengers to book a cruise, and plays favorably with the cruise lines when deciding which ports to visit. Having tours to popular places like Freeport helps keep the ships coming to Portland in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it shouldn\u2019t be overlooked that, while the City of Portland bears many of the costs associated with hosting cruise ships (including infrastructure creation and maintenance and marketing to cruise lines and visitors), it also receives money from the ships themselves (such as per-head passenger fees, dockage, tug boats, waste management, and fuel).<\/p>\n
Think Globally, Shop Locally<\/strong><\/p>\nRegardless, could Portland be doing a better job in some respects to capture more dollars?<\/p>\n
Shore excursions are typically booked in advance, so the number one way to make the bucks stop here is to entice more people to get off\u2013and stay off\u2013the ships. According to industry averages, around 30 percent of passengers stay onboard at a port-of-call. If they do get off the ship, many passengers choose to return at lunch and spend the afternoon participating in the endless multitude of onboard activities. So how to lure them onshore?<\/p>\n
The takeaway that may be eluding us is high-end retailers and local artisans have an interdependent appeal. As one traveler puts it, \u201cI tend to buy from local shops, but I like to see that upscale stores are in the area<\/em>.\u201d National\u00a0 brands also have the cash to advertise in the cruise-line-provided local shopping guides (no Portland retailers currently advertise presumably because it is cost-prohibitive). Properly used, such advertising would encourage passengers to step off the ship, get in the shopping mix, and eventually work their way to local businesses in the Old Port, finding the \u2018local, artisan\u2019 merchandise the vast majority of them are looking for (UMO study).<\/p>\nThe opportunity is there\u2013high profile businesses like Shipyard Brewing Co. are already set to locate in the ground floor of the Marriott Residence Inn.<\/p>\n
With luck, we won\u2019t miss the boat.<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 2011
\nPortland will host a record 59 cruise ships this year, carrying over 89,000 passengers. Show us the money!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3976"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4059,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3976\/revisions\/4059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/ship.jpg\" "\\"ship\\"")
<\/a>Beginning every June, thousands of tourists descend from giant, pearly white ships onto Portland piers, wide-eyed, excited, and clutching fistfuls of cash. It\u2019s a city\u2019s dream scenario\u2013so where does the money go?<\/p>\n