Irene's owner looks back at half-century of souvenir-hawking

ATLANTIC CITY - At the helm of what may be one of the longest surviving family-owned businesses on this storied Boardwalk, Debbie Devlin has seen a lot of summertime trends come and go over the last 53 years.

"I've always been here. . . . We're Boardwalk people; that's all we know," said Devlin, 67, owner of Irene's, a souvenir shop near South Carolina Avenue that since 1950 has supplied the kinds of trinkets and treasures that seem to top off a seaside vacation.

Stocked cheek-by-jowl in the 1,800-square-foot throwback shop - where success and defeat come in waves beneath bug-zapping fluorescent lighting and atop a mishmash of flooring - thousands of items await purchase. On the crammed metal shelves shoppers find the requisite key chains, shot glasses, mugs, magnets, and other items with Atlantic City emblazoned in a script that ought to be called something like "souvenir flourish."

There's plenty of neon: T-shirts, short-shorts, hats, drink cups for the beach. And the kind of jewelry that's not worth much but that you'll hold on to as a memory of your "best summer ever."

There's beach stuff, of course - towels, sun hats, sunglasses, sunscreen, sand buckets. If you can't make it the 80 yards to the water's edge, they've got plenty of seashells to take home.

The most expensive items in the place may be the baby iguanas by the front door priced at $29.98, $49.98, or $59.98, depending on the size.

So in this beach town where the concept of souvenirs may have started - in the 1880s with salt water taffy - these "boardwalk people," Devlin and her late husband, honed their retail craft the way tightrope walkers come to understand balance and precision. Spotting trends and getting lucky on long shots, they eventually expanded to a chain of six souvenir shops, including one in Ocean City, Md.

There were really good years along the way, when the shops were on the cutting edge of various trends - remember Silly Bandz? - and lines would be out the door to buy the latest $2.99 gadget no one could live without (or at least have around for a laugh or two, such as invisible dog collars).

"For years we've been coming here. It's like a staple for us," said Marion Turner 63, of Scranton. "You just always look for Irene's on the Boardwalk."

So well-known is Irene's exterior at South Carolina Avenue that it and the old-school interior were used in the 2010 Jennifer Aniston/Gerard Butler motion picture The Bounty Hunter. A character in the film named Irene used the souvenir store as a front to operate a loan-sharking operation.

"That put us on the map more so than we already were," Devlin said, laughing.

Then along come the years like this one, when for a variety of reasons - high gas prices, a still lagging regional economy, lingering effects of Hurricane Sandy - and tourists just don't spend as freely. Merchants such as Devlin have to get by without that one must-have item that brings customers through the front door.

"We pride ourselves on having something for everyone and providing the service that goes along with that. But this year, there isn't that one thing that everyone wants. Some years are just like that," said Devlin, of Margate, who has worked at Irene's since 1960. "This is one of them."

A veteran of World War II, Devlin's husband, Edward, who died in September 2010 four months shy of his 90th birthday, opened the store with his former wife, Irene, after completing law school and deciding that a law career was not for him.

They started out in a 10-by-10-foot booth on the old Million Dollar Pier, selling inexpensive jewelry and soon opened Irene's as an independent Boardwalk shop that would evolve into the small chain. All but the one at South Carolina Avenue and another location on the Boardwalk near Kentucky Avenue have closed since the company's heyday in the 1980s, Devlin said.

And in one of those only-in-Atlantic City twists, when Ed Devlin divorced Irene and kept the name on the store and married Debbie, they all got along nicely. The store's namesake moved to Florida, where she still lives. The namesake former wife, Ed Devlin's second, was even mentioned in his obituary. (His first wife died.) He had seven children, including a daughter with Debbie.

"I think that all of it stems from a love that we all shared for Atlantic City. We always really loved this place," said Devlin, noting that her late husband was a child when Enoch "Nucky" Johnson ruled Atlantic City and the Queen of Resorts was in its prime.

Ed Devlin, a lifelong Democrat, became so involved in local politics and such a fixture around town that he became known as the "Baron of the Boardwalk," involving himself in charitable and civic causes throughout the years, she said.

Devlin said she was counting on Miss America coming back to town in a few weeks to spur business in her year-round store after a lackluster summer.

"This is our life. . . . The Boardwalk is a very special part of the city. It's like a city within a city," Devlin said. "This was a very tough year for us, but Boardwalk people are fighters; we always bounce back and we always look forward to next year. It'll be better."