AVALON – It’s CJ Walsh’s third full summer at Moran’s Dockside, and he can barely chat for five minutes without a customer eagerly greeting him or asking him about the day’s catch. CJ is the fishing director at Moran’s Dockside, a bait, tackle and hoagie spot right on the bay at the Avalon Fishing Center.
As homes have gotten bigger in Avalon, and as property values have surged, Moran’s Dockside has kept its humble footprint.
Jim and Helene Moran opened Moran’s Dockside in 1988, moving from their 8th Street location, Courtside Deli. Jim still works the shop almost every day. Find him silently slicing and dicing behind the deli counter.
Jim and Helene moved shop to the Fishing Center at the request of the Borough, which was looking for a tenant to feed the fishermen and keep the bayside docks lively.
CJ jokingly told Do the Shore that Moran’s Dockside is like Avalon’s second Chamber of Commerce. Here, folks catch up with old friends and with the latest gossip. Business owners, lifelong residents, celebrities: Everybody is humbled when they step through Moran’s small front door.
“I have a million conversations a day,” CJ said. “We see the same people year after year. We get people in here who say: ‘I’ve been coming here for 30 years.’ They get a new neighbor, they say to that neighbor: You have to go to Moran’s as soon as you can.”
The shop space is tight but well-used, loaded with fishing gear on one side and a fast-moving deli counter on the other. A small balcony outside offers a keen view of the bay. CJ said it’s the cheapest way on the entire island to enjoy a bite on the water.
It helps that the hoagies are good. Fresh bread is delivered every morning from Deluxe Italian Bakery in Runnemede, and meat is delivered twice weekly from Dietz & Watson in Philadelphia.
“We’ve used the same ingredients since we opened; we aren’t interested in cheaping out,” CJ told Do the Shore amid the hubbub. The favorite hoagie, by far, is “Moran’s Famous Italian Hoagie.” The name sounds self-congratulatory, but nearly every customer during our hour-long interview with CJ ordered it and left with a smile.
CJ is responsible for everything fishing-related at the store: rods, reels, hooks, and bait. He also manages vendor relationships. Folks ask him about the day’s conditions, where to fish, and sometimes, how to fish. He said that everybody who walks into Moran’s should leave with their angler’s wits about them. Not long ago, CJ didn’t know much about fishing. His first day on the job was spent stocking drinks, and he quickly picked up a rod and learned the ropes from the store’s anglers.
“Somebody walked in here this morning with the common refrain: ‘I’m not from around here, I don’t know how to fish’ — I want them to leave with fishing rods, bait, and hooked lines so they can go fishing right away.”
The small shop is open from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day in the summer. Work hours are long because opening at 6 means staff arrives even earlier. Employees sometimes work 70-hour weeks.
“Everybody in our business lives in this seasonal world. We’re all in this together,” CJ said.
CJ said lifeguards and bartenders tend to order the Sante Fe Turkey Sub, the deli’s “sleeper hit.” The turkey is prepared with sun-dried tomatoes and has roasted red peppers baked into it. John McCorson, Avalon’s mayor, orders the mixed-cheese hoagie, never skimping on provolone.
The Borough of Avalon was an altogether different beast when Moran’s Dockside opened its doors back in 1988. Homes were expensive, sure, but they didn’t come anywhere close to the record-breaking $21 million dune property sold in 2022. Today, the median cost of a home in the borough is nearly $3 million.
Surging costs are no secret. Just this summer, the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a lengthy feature article called “Has Avalon become too exclusive for the people who live there?” The answer they found after interviewing many locals: yes.
What that means for businesses like Moran’s is that rents are climbing to match. Rising costs have spurred something of a restaurant crisis: Longstanding family establishments are closing at a fast clip. Just this past winter, the famous Whitebriar restaurant and bar, in the center of town, closed and was purchased by the Union League of Philadelphia. It reopened as a members-only spot, and dues for the Union League can soar to tens of thousands of dollars a year.
Moran’s Dockside is partially shielded from the cutthroat real estate market because the property is leased directly from the Borough of Avalon. CJ told Do the Shore that Moran’s went through the lease renewal process last December; theirs was the only business to bid on the lease.
“We’re very thankful in terms of the real estate pressures. We aren’t as directly impacted. The borough is dedicated to keeping the fishing center vibrant,” he said. Moran’s does its part with fresh, affordable hoagies, friendly faces, and a decades-long legacy known across town.
Contact the author, Collin Hall, at 609-886-8600 ext. 156 or by email at chall@cmcherald.com
