OCEAN CITY, Md. - It has been a slow start to the summer season at Piezano's Pizza on the boardwalk.
Manager Ibrahim Aksut says unfortunately he has had to raise prices.
"We had to increase our prices because we buy the products, the products are very expensive right now so we had to increase our prices too. So unfortunately, we had to do that," he said.
Carol Officer from Frederick says it was not filling up the gas tank for the over three hour drive to Ocean City.
"We watch the gas prices daily really. But just everything costs more," she said.
Carol says he family brought groceries with them so they will not have to eat out as much.
"We're here having a good time but we're eating in a little more and just dealing on a fixed income when you're retired, not a lot we can do," she said.
Susan Jones with the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association says she expects inflation to lead people to spend less on material goods and more on experiences.
"So we've had two really solid seasons, so what we're seeing now is compared to 2018 and 2019," she said.
One business owner we spoke with says he is hoping after a slow start to the season, this Independence Day weekend will be the start of a busier trend for the rest of the summer.