If you live along the Grand Strand, you've no doubt, noticed a significant decrease in bikers riding around; specifically in the City of Myrtle Beach.
For some local business owners like Victor Shamah that was bad news. Shamah owns the Bowery on 9th Avenue and said that his business is taking a major hit from not having enough bikers come into town this week that’s a loss he said that he just cannot afford to take in this tough economy.
"I've been on this street for over forty years I haven't seen it like this in May in years and years and years and there's nobody down, the traffic is not here, we just don't know what to do," said Shamah.
Shamah went on to explain that his opinion as to what caused fewer bikers to come is split as to whether the new ordinances turned them off or whether it was the shaky economy.
"I have to blame partly the council, partly the way it was handled, the economy, I'm not to sure exactly what to blame and how they effected this," explained Shamah.
Shamah added that he still has a lot of local and out of town loyal customers, like Gary Cogswell of North Carolina who help keep his restaurant running.
Cogswell said that he and his wife have been coming to he beach as part of bike week for over 20 years but never has seen anything this bad.
"It’s almost like a ghost town, we come here just to have fun and it's really almost sad," said Cogswell.
As News 13 reported last week, business has picked up further south on the Strand where restrictions aren’t as tight, but what's been good for merchants there has put owners like Shamah in a tight spot.
"We want them to come we hope they come back and we think that we can resolve this issue hopefully for the next few years,” said Shamah.
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