The Hope That Floats This Family: Spellmans Marine, a Four Generation Business, Adapts Strategies To Serve a Modern Clientele

Growing up, Brian Spellman and his siblings knew they had a home away from home.

Some days after school in the 1990s were spent working odds and ends at the family business — Spellmans Marine in Hampton Bays — or doing homework on the showroom floor. Brian remembers his boss’s — his grandfather’s — strong work ethic and “dedication to make the customer feel at home.”

Thirty-five years later, Brian now leads sales for the family business under his father and uncle, Buddy and Kent Spellman.
“Boating is really all about the experience and making memories with your family,” he said. “It keeps the kids away from their phones, their iPads, their computers, their games — all that stuff. You’re spending time with them. And on a boat, you have a captive audience.”

To keep the business thriving, this fourth-generation boat dealership and marina has had to expand its services to remain competitive and adapt to a changing customer demographic.

Cost of living increases and high interest rates challenge customers looking to make relatively expensive recreational purchases, and businesses might struggle to stock supplies due to the recent tariffs, Brian Spellman said. Several weekends of rain through Memorial Day and a later end to the school calendar have also dampened the start of summer.

Today, his boat supply store on Montauk Highway, right before the Shinnecock Canal, is stocked with inventory, including safety equipment, navigation tools, engine parts, cleaning supplies, and various accessories. He forecasts that tides are changing, as more locals move their vessels into the water and seasonal residents settle on the East End. Boats occupy nearly every slip at the marina here, as well as at the storefront on Rampasture Road, letting out to Smith Creek.

The 67-year-old marine dealership is also looking to develop a third location on Newtown Road to serve both Peconic and Shinnecock Bay areas, with completion targeted within the next decade. The expansion aims to capture a broader rental market who might be newer to boating and uncomfortable with navigating the canal lock.

His father, Buddy Spellman said, “It’s always been about giving people what they want.”

He remembers that in 1957 the family’s Southampton toy store began stocking marine supplies when customers started “asking for life preservers, boat paint, varnish and silly things that nobody had out here.” Local boatyards focused mostly on repairs, which created an opportunity for his family. “We’re in the freaking boat business without knowing it,” Buddy recalled.

Now, decades later, the company faces a critical business challenge as their “clientele is aging,” according to Buddy Spellman.

The dealership wants to attract customers ages 40 to 55 — potential boaters that they describe as “a different breed” who don’t currently own or are in the rental market. They are observing an increase in new customers trying out boating through rentals and lower-end leases, if they can manage, for those who want to “give it a shot” before committing to a purchase.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed untapped market potential, with boating providing unique social distancing opportunities. “For a lot of people it was the only way to be able to get out and to be with people,” Brian Spellman observed, adding people wanted to be “away from it all but still being together and safe.”

The competitive housing market also directly correlates with boat-related spending, Brian Spellman said, creating vulnerability to real estate market fluctuations. High living costs in the Hamptons also make recruiting “good qualified people” particularly difficult, even though the company invests in employee training and development to maintain retention.

Today, the company operates with at least five family members of the 40-plus person workforce, while fourth-generation family members are already joining the workforce. On this particular day, sister Karen Bellucci is working in the office, and cousin Kent Jr. is fixing one of the boats for rent in the showroom downstairs. Brian Spellman said he even met his wife on the job as co-workers in the early 2000s. While they don’t expect their sons, Brian Jr. and Leo, to join the family business, “it will always be there for them.”

(A recent loss to the team was Ward Bennett Spellman — Buddy and Kent’s brother — who died at age 62 on Christmas morning in 2023 after a battle with cancer.)
Spellmans Marine tries to differentiate itself through honest customer relationships. Where car buyers might visit dealerships every few years, boat customers require ongoing service and supply relationships.

“When we sell a boat to somebody, we aim for that very close relationship,” said Brian Spellman. The company positions itself as “trusted gatekeepers” of recreational experiences, proactively engaging customers to ensure satisfaction and repeat business.

With more than 87,000 boat registrations on Long Island — and another 30,000 associated with the New York City metropolitan area and Westchester County, according to New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation — Brian Spellman said it is important to keep visiting boat renters informed and safe on local waters. That also means to be informed about a state law that went into effect this year that requires “all operators of motorized watercraft to complete a boating safety course.”
“They want to have fun and make memories with family,” he said, so the family business requires a more intensive relationship building than traditional retail.