I was one of the lucky people that went to South. It saddens me to see all the stores that have closed up. My husband and I go through downtown TR all the time, on our way to our daughter's in Beachwood. Very often, we talk about the need to do SOMETHING to bring the area back to life.

Why don't you open up a running shop ?

aside from opening a business, what can the local downtown Toms River resident do? I'm all about it! What I would love is a coffee shop to be open late (Java Joint).

Copy Red Bank, have a theater that attracts venues like ZZ Top, America, Chris Botti, etc. and then have different kinds of restaurants. Toms River even has edge over Red Bank in that it has better parking.

Ask any business owner past and present...no parking..even business owners get tickets...ask workers downtown lunchtime you need service to get in and out in an hour..Capones only one successful at it..and prices at lunch...who would pay $8.00 for milkshake..thats what out of business ice cream shop charged..past Java Joint..terrible service..past mexican place terrible service..but pricing and parking issue and service key..

Would love to shop downtown or just stroll and window shop. Nothing there though but title companies, lawyers and businesses. Even Pt. Pleasant has better shopping. Where are the specialty foods,boutiques, and jewelry and quirky shops that would attract shoppers? there is nothing at night, so even if you do eat dinner out at the very few places , there is nowhere to go afterwards

You need to entice the lawyers and other professionals into the old (now new) Observer Building with decent rent prices. That would free up many spots up and down Main Street for small stores and big ones...although in this economy, not much you can do to sustain a new business.

When I was young Main Street or "town" as we called it back then was booming. It was the only place to shop. There was no mall back then. Woolworths, Helene Lawrence, the drug store were the places to shop, going to the Community Theater to see a movie and of course going to Tommy's to name a few things from the past.
I am sure the writer of this article is way too young to remember any of this because back then, there was no high school North.
I doubt you can ever get back what we once had it Toms River

Toms River is plagued by building owners who charge rents too hight for anyone to stay in business. Right now there isn't any real attraction for anyone to bother to come there. You can't even find a place to have dinner and a drink. Bush league and greed don't make for an attractive city.

I agree with you 100%, something has to be done with the Downtown area, it is something I'm so proud of and like said, its not something every town has. Its something we need to improve greatly and for someone that can afford to invest the time and money into taking the chance to make it happen, it could be a gold mine. Those are three great ideas, would love to hear about the other three.

Well I agree something must be done downtown, what we need to do is get rid of a lot of the lawyers , bail bonds and grandpa clothing stores, and get a very classy movie theater, Count Basie like theater, a few quality restaurants. I am starting a technology company and my long term goal is to open my offices in the upstairs in Java joint , and make the downstairs a technology lounge. Because coffee is still hot i.e. Starbucks which is in Red Bank. Finally I would say we need some big name stores, and a mix of local boutiques and and I think we would have a recipe for success.

Parking, parking, parking.

Hopefully this gets better with 1-3 because 4-6 aren't solving any problems. Parking is a problem. Why would anyone want to go somewhere where the risk of getting a ticket is bigger than any reward available. The other problem is the BID. these clowns only care about themselves and their businesses and would never want to upset the delicate balance they currently have. DTR is a workplace. It's not a destination any more. You go there for court, the library or to fight some ridiculous notice you get from the township in the mail... that's it. Parking is not 100% the issue because there's a garage around the corner that sits 3/4 empty all year long because people are too lazy to walk 2-3 blocks to their destination. Other than that, good luck finding a spot. It will never be what it was or what you wish it would become. Even the events the BID hosts are ridiculous and unfun to visit. If it DID become a "hangout" spot, it would also become a spot for junkies and heroin addicts to rob cars and hold people up.

Here's the thing with Downtown Toms River, compared to the other downtowns that people are mentioning. There is no train here!!! Red Bank, Point Pleasant, Asbury Park, Bradley Beach, Manasquan, Long Branch, South Amboy, etc all has train stations. We are a little too far for NYC and a little too far from Philly, by car and who really wants to ride the bus. A lot of people here are comparing to Red Bank however Red Bank has NY money. Also, Red Bank started to cater to their financial firms years ago, which led to more high end stores and restaurants. Toms River can do the same. So many young professionals are moving to Toms River, I being one of them. However, a lot of my colleagues say the same thing, "There's no train there". How can the county seat have no train? Commuting by car to NYC is an hour and 45 minutes for me on a good day. If we can just get this MOM train line approved, TR would be in good shape, and so will downtown TR and other surrounding towns.

Downtown Toms River needs to be more cultural. There is no variety down there. Different ethnic restaurants would help (Japanese, Mexican, Italian, Portuguese and so on). Fill in those stores with cafes, bistros, brasseries, cantinas, micro-breweries, steakhouses, trattorias, oyster bars, Jewish deli, wine bars, etc. Perhaps, bringing different types of Americana restaurants like Chicago deep dish pizza, Philly cheesesteaks, Maryland crabs, New England seafood, southern BBQ, Tex-Mex or old fashion candy stores. You would need some more entertainment and fashion stores as well. Adding a theatre, much like the Count Basie or the State Theater and close off Washington St, much like Cape May did with their Washington Street Mall. Cape May rescued its downtown for posterity. They made a move in 1970 by closing Washington Street to traffic between Ocean and Perry Streets. They filled in the street with bricks, placed park benches everywhere, and planted the newly created walking mall with trees, shrubbery, and flowers. In the summer, I would have fireworks every Friday night, to draw families in. They have the water, much like the Navesink, but don't use it.

Also, take a walk along Cookman Ave in Asbury Park. I couldn't believe the transformation down there. If a once bankrupt town can do it, why can’t the Toms River Business Development do it. And lastly, hire a new Business Administrator/Planner for the town. Why does Brick get all these great new stores? Does the TR business administrator/planner not accommodate these companies, much like Brick does? Remember, businesses equal jobs and with 95,000 TR residents, I'm sure these would help many.

Sadly, the cat is out of the bag for downtown. I'm not optimisitic. Over the last 40 years, the county has swamped the downtown area. After widening to five lanes, never mind the addition of the second bridge, Water street is unwalkable and uncrossable. Even the post office, which used to be on Washington until 1972 is gone, and so is the Community movie theatre, which exists only as a shell for other businesses.

If it wasn't for the Courthouse, HS South, maybe Townhall and the Library, downtown Toms River would be a Ghost Town..It seems downtown is busy when various festivals occur or when the Car Show is here..

As a lifelong resident of downtown it pains me to see it now. I work downtown, but the parking is a big problem. Would it be possible to make Washington St. oneway and set up diagonal parking? The parking authority would have even more cars to ticket~
And hopefully they don't raise the rates on the newly renovated garage.... in fact, if they would lower the cost for the bottom level to .25 for 8 hours, more staff would park down there allowing for more visitors to park up on the top level. Which would actually bring in more money for the Parking Authority because people who come for less than an hour would free up that space for another patron... you could feasibly take in $1.00 an hour per spot or more if people are just running in and out of Town Hall.

Oh boy, just what Downtown needs -- an arcade. So the local drug dealers can sell their wares to the kids cutting high school to zone out on pinball on Washington Street, right in front of the courthouse. Basically it's what happened at the mall many years ago when they put an arcade where Applebees is now.

The rents are too high (even Capones is cutting back its space), the traffic is lousy and the parking still stinks. The lawyers who go to court or work down there usually go to the Office Lounge for lunch, and the high school kids who have cars drive down to the WaWa on Route 37. There is too much retail in other areas of Toms River for any franchise (such as Starbucks) to think of moving downtown.

I really don't hold out much hope of a "revitalization" of the downtown area anytime in the near future.