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thedrifter
03-13-06, 07:04 AM
Money in their pockets
March 13,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF

The signs are everywhere.

“Welcome Home RCT-8!” says one. “Thank you for a job well done!” says another.

And they are not alone. Across Jacksonville, emblazoned on billboards and placards, hanging from shop windows and flagpoles, are a myriad of messages welcoming, blessing and thanking Marines and sailors returning from Iraq.

The local business community has as much a stake in this military town as anyone; their loved ones have gone off to war, and they’ve painted the rear windshield of the family car or draped sheets near the Camp Lejeune gate.

But there’s another reason businesses are thrilled to have the Few and the Proud a bit less few around town. Marines love spending money — especially those who just returned from a hard deployment in a combat zone.

“Any unit that leaves the area, when that unit comes back, there’s always that euphoria,” said Bruce Gombar, Onslow County’s economic development director and a retired Marine officer. “It’s always good to be home.”

And roughly 17,000 Marines and sailors are in the process of coming home, as II Marine Expeditionary Force hands over operational command in Iraq to the West Coast-based I MEF.

While Lejeune units will continue to come and go on cryptic deployment cycles, there stands to be a lot more young men with neat haircuts lingering around Jacksonville’s halls of commerce in the near future.

And businesses are happy to have them.

“The retail establishment in Onslow County has figured out that Marines and sailors today have a lot more discretionary income than they did 10 or 20 years ago,” Gombar said. “In addition to discretionary income, our Marines have a lot more mobility today. They are coming into town and they are not shy about spending their money.”

‘Pretty flush’

It’s a simple formula. Deployed Marines have little time to spend their monthly pay. Add in a couple hundred bucks extra each month for combat pay and tax exclusion for their pay earned while in the combat zone. That equals money burning holes in lots of pockets.

“When these guys are over there, they don’t have any place to spend their money,” Gombar said. “And they get combat pay. So when they come back, they are pretty flush.”

And looking to buy. Jeff Katz, the general manager at Best Buy on Western Boulevard, said store traffic has increased 50 percent since mid-February.

“We have seen a tremendous impact in traffic and sales as well,” he said. “When you look at the (store) traffic, its definitely coming. They tell us about it all the time, ‘I’m back from Iraq. I want to spend.’

While he can’t recall seeing anyone go on a massive spending spree, Katz said lots of Marines are spending a good chunk of cash in the store, on everything from computers to iPods to media accessories such as DVDs, CD’s and video games.

“I can’t really say that I’ve seen them load up huge carts or anything, but you did get four or five come in together and each of them buy a laptop,” he said. “I’ve seen some guys back three or four times a week.”

Best Buy isn’t the only electronics dealer to see a swell. David Baldridge, owner of Onslow Audio on Western Boulevard, said his stereo store has seen a significant increase in sales.

“I would say 80 percent of guys walking in here have real short haircuts,” he said. “As they started coming through in small groups in February, we started noticing some surges.”

Eric Reust, the owner of Odyssey Tattoo on U.S. 17, said the numbers of Marines looking for new ink swell both before and after large deployments.

“When those cats first get back, it’s standing room only in there,” he said. “It doesn’t make up for the time they are gone but we can’t compare our grief to what they are going through. A lot of them are getting in memory tattoos; Fallen but not forgotten kind of things. A lot of them are getting religious tattoos. These guys have been through a lot. I tattooed a guy (Monday) night who lost five of his buddies in a firefight.”

That notion — that they have been sacrificing and suffering away from home for months — is another reason

“They want to reward themselves,” said Don Williamson, owner of Moore Buick-Pontiac in Jacksonville. “They get back in this country and they’ve got some money and they want to do something that feels good, buy something they want.”

Baldridge, whose family-owned shop has been in the area for three generations, said he understands guys wanting to unwind a bit after a long deployment.

“Its kind of a release,” he said. “They get back and they’ve been sacrificing for several months as far as life’s pleasures. They are ready to indulge alittle bit. Nothing wrong with that — especially indulging in my business.”

‘Expecting more’

Yet while many stores have seen sales spike, some business owners say that calling it a boom is erroneous; its more of a soft splash.

Mike Hunter, a manager at Britt Motorsports, said he hasn’t noticed any surge. Then again, the Lejeune Boulevard dealer of motorcycles, personal watercraft and off-road vehicles has strong sales all year long.

“We’ve always been busy,” said Hunter, who added that about 80 to 85 percent of his customers are Marines. “It doesn’t matter if they come or go.

Business owners will point to the first Gulf War in 1991, when thousands of troops up and left for the Saudi desert. Many families headed back to their hometowns, a blow to the gut that left the area economic gasping.

But when the troops returned, triumphant, the local economy raged back like a rampaging beast. Wayne Sandy, a partner at the Golden Corral along U.S. 17, said the post-Gulf War euphoria meant lots of Marines and lots of money changing hands.

“I remember the days back in 1992 through 2000, this place was just rocking,” Sandy said. “I’d like to see it get back to that time. I’ve seen a little bit of an increase, but I was expecting more, honestly.

“Its nothing that’s going to be a savior after last year,” he added. “It was pretty bad last year. Not horrendous, but not what we’re used to in this area.”

Williamson, a longtime Jacksonville businessman, said that while he’s seen some increase in customers, he has not noticed anything that could be called dramatic. He attributes it, in part, to the base’s deployment rotations.

“The base has done a good job of rotating the troops, so I think business has been pretty good all along,” he said. “Its not like it was during Desert Storm. But when they come back, you do notice and upturn in business. You see a lot of troops and their families out looking for cars. And probably other things, too.”

Contact staff writer Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 229.