How's Business?
 

Just wondering. Been up to the lake every weekend in June and July, and the area seems pretty busy. The Weirs has had plenty of activity the past few weekends. At one point traffic was backed up getting to the beach area for a while -- remined me of the old days. Meredith seemed to have a pretty good crowd for its boat show. Gunstock seemed to have a good crowd for its ribfest. Just wondering if business is improved over last year. Certainly the weather has been better. If I remember correctly, the Mt. Washington was crusing sometimes only once a day last year, but seems to be on a two times a day schedule this year. Even the Weirs waterslide has been busy. The past couple of years, it was rare to see a no vacancy sign hanging in any motel/hotel window, but this past weekend many no vacancy signs were out. We drove several times from Laconia to the Plymouth area, and most of the motels seemed to have no vacancies. Hope all the businesses are doing well. After the past couple of disasterous weather years, the boardwalk washout at the Weirs, et cetera, I hope all the local businesses are doing well.

Judging by boats on the lake, not good.
 

Weirs bay is always busy but if you drive by any of the usual anchoring spots around the lake you will see very few boats compared to 3 or 4 years ago.
Remember it dose not take all that many people to fill up the weirs, considering the area and its capacity with all the condo’s within walking distance.
I've been working in Meredith the last 2 months and it has not looked all that busy for vacation season. Not as many boats at the town dock as you would expect at 5 or 6 in the evening and the parking lot might be 1/3rd full at best.

It was a ZOO on Sunday morning. The line at BayGulls was almost out the door. The drive-through at Dunkin Donuts was around the corner and there was barely a parking spot at the Village Kitchen. Traffic was heavy - even during late morning when people should have been out enjoying the beautiful weather. Boat traffic this past weekend seemed the heaviest of the season, extending late into Sunday afternoon. It may have been a slow start, but compared to the last few years, it seems busy.

I Agree With Belmont...
 

...I've been up here for a little over two weeks and I've already driven around the lake (by car) twice looking for hikes for my pups.

The weekends have definitely been busier than the weeks, but not overwhelming like in years past.

I spent yesterday in Meredith and it certainly didn't look like a hot, sunny, August Sunday with the amount of activity going on. It was semi-busy and people were out enjoying the weather, but it wasn't crazy.

And I think the boat traffic has been minimal. Again, Johnson's Cove in Winter Harbor is packed on weekends but vacant during the week. I mean, not one boat with this amazing weather we've had.

Last Friday I made the mistake of going food shopping in Gilford. I decided to drive through Meridith, and got into the 35-minutes-to-get-down-the-hill traffic.
So I decided to go down Rt106 and hang a right to get to RT104. Then took the backway down to Meridith Main street. Well, bad move. It was all blocked off with Cops. I must have seen about 10 of them standing around. Had to take one of the side streets to get to RT3. Guess what....Yep not a cop directing traffic in sight. There was however a guy at the Hannaford's. Kudos to them for at least trying to make that intersection safer on a Friday afternoon. Took about an hour and half to get from the Gilford Hannaford to Moultonborough. Normally takes me about 35-40 minutes. So if nothing else there were plenty of people out and about on Friday anyway....:D
Oh and the VK Parking lot was packed...I almost pulled in but decided to keep going or my ice cream was going to be a big tub of chocolate mush. :(

This is just a guess, and my own opinion, but it seems somewhat more busy around the lake & in the stores this summer, and that's really not saying much cause it's nowhere near as active as it was 4 or 5 years ago.

Guess what!
 

Traffic has always been a problem during the summer , always on the weekends! My experience goes back to 1965! The only difference is when I left the restaurant I worked in I had to watch out for moose and deer and somtimes I would never pass another car at 1am when I left work! My trip sent me to Spindle Point every night as that was where we lived. In those days you could hear a car coming across the lake.

Last week seemed CROWDED all around the lake! Seemed like many more people around. We had guests and went to Castle in the Clouds for the lunch on the patio. It was wonderful. Had lobster in a dish with a nice salad. There was a wait for half an hour. Went to Giuseppe's in Meredith and it had ONE table that we got! Nice dinner. Music was a bit loud though. Went to Sam and Rosie's where every table was taken for those best on the lake lobster rolls. Had a great onion soup and corned beef sandwich at The Bob House which had a good full house. Others had the haddock and the bluecheese potatoes I think it was?
It sure was nice to see so many businesses with lots of customers again. Maybe people take the last part of July for vacation?

My town seems to be jumping, and I'm cautiously optimistic that we're finally headed in the right direction. Our company's sales first started to decline in Sept. '08 and they stayed lethargic throughout 2009. We managed to stay in the black by cutting costs. Beginning this past March we started to see a noticeable increase in business that seems to be gaining momentum. We're on track for our best year since the recession began.

I have a buddy who is a sales manager for a local soft drink distributor. He told me that his drivers are still operating on a 4-day delivery schedule, despite a big uptick in sales. Upper management is refusing to hire additional help or increase overtime, preferring instead to increase profits by squeezing the existing workers even harder. My buddy says he feels like he's constantly in crisis mode these days, having to deal with an increasing number of what he describes as driver "melt-downs".

No doubt, there are plenty of other companies doing the same thing. Besides the human cost, ultimately it can't be very good for sales.