Strong's Marine Continues To Thrive and Grow After 80 Years in Business

Over the last two decades, multi-generational family businesses have become somewhat of a dying breed.

In several industries throughout the East End, fighting the forces and big pockets of developers has been too much of an uphill battle for many legacy companies with humble roots. When those family businesses sell out or go away, the service, know-how and familiarity that customers associate with them are often lost in the process.

But there are exceptions — businesses that have not only survived changing tides, but have thrived as well.

Strong’s Marine is a perfect example.

The company, founded in 1945 when Stewart Strong opened the Strong-Holland Marina and Dealership in Lindenhurst, is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year and, remarkably, is still growing, adapting and evolving as it approaches nearly a century in business, with the fourth generation of Strong family members at the helm.

The company is run by President Jeff Strong, grandson of the founder Stewart Strong, while his son Ryan Strong serves as vice president. Jeff Strong’s wife, Re Strong, has worked for the company since 2000. Their son, Jay Strong, is a board member and is heavily involved with sales, while also running a horseback riding stable, Laurel Crown Farms, with his wife, Laura Beth Strong.

The business was small when Stewart started it in the 1940s, with just one location and a modest number of boats that would be considered small by today’s standards. Jeff’s parents, Dave and Dolores Strong, took over the business in 1965, moving Strong’s Marine to Mattituck, running the company for nearly 30 years before Jeff and Re took the reins in 1992. Eight years later, they opened the showroom on County Road 39 in Southampton while also opening the Southampton marina, on Peconic Bay.

In 2008, Strong’s expanded its presence to the western portion of Long Island, with a showroom and sales office in Port Washington at Brewer Capri Marina, ushering in a decade that would see some of the most rapid growth in the company’s history.

In 2010, Strong’s expanded into the yacht business, selling vessels up to 72 feet, and in 2013, the company debuted Strong’s Water Club on Mattituck Inlet, a nearly 9-acre marina with 135 in-water slips, a 25,000-square-foot indoor storage facility, salt water pool and restaurant.

Three years later, they opened Strong’s Yacht Center on Mattituck Inlet, servicing and storing yachts of up to 130 feet.

In 2017, they expanded again, entering an agreement to sell new boats at Al Grover’s Marina in Freeport.

Learning the business — and the value of hard work — at a young age was a Strong family tradition from the start. Jeff Strong’s entry into the boating world began well before his 10th birthday, when he painted boat bottoms and pumped gas for customers at his father’s marina in Mattituck, and he was still in his teens when he sold his first boat. Like their father, both Ryan and Jay Strong were put to work at an early age, pumping gas and washing boats. The love of boating was passed down to them, along with the lesson that they had to earn it — their grandfather bought them their first boat, but also taught them how to care for it, and doing so was an expectation.

Strong’s has expanded its presence on Long Island over the past five years, proving it could not only weather the major disruption of the pandemic, but thrive under those challenging conditions. In 2021, the company opened a new showroom and service facility on Main Road in Mattituck, and opened a new marina in Southampton on Shinnecock Bay off Little Neck Road, a location that had previously been home to Coors Marina, adjacent to the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University’s Southampton campus.

Strong’s also went into a long-term lease with the Town of Islip to operate Atlantique on Fire Island, a resort-style marina with 165 slips just steps from the ocean. In 2022, the company purchased Broadwater’s Cover in Cutchogue, opening another marina location there.

Most companies, in any industry, don’t make it to 80 years in business, and the ones that do aren’t typically still experiencing growth at that stage. The success of Strong’s can’t be attributed to just one X factor, however, according to the people who run the company and those who have worked there for years.

“Our core value is that we’re the home of super service,” Jeff Strong said. “We’re empowering our employees to take great care of our clients and feel good about doing that for our clients. Our core principle has not changed — that’s been the foundation and the pillar that this business has been built on since 1945, and it’s one thing I can say with confidence that we’ll continue to invest heavily in doing.”

“Super service” can mean anything from having a wide range of marinas to choose from for keeping a boat; vast offerings for continued instruction and learning on how to safety operate and maintain a boat once a customer has purchased it; providing full dockside service; availability of private captains; scheduled group outings to locations like Newport, Rhode Island; and more.

The ability of the company to keep expanding its presence throughout Long Island is another big part of its success. Often when a marina goes on the market, a company like Strong’s is competing with deep-pocketed developers who are eyeing the property for a completely different purpose.

“As far as our business is concerned, the ability to go in and keep these facilities operational as marinas is necessary for the boat sales side of things,” Jay said. “We’ve seen in Florida places where a lot of large marinas have been bought up and turned into condos, and then the amount of [boat] slip availability has diminished.”

While many clients who buy boats with Strong’s keep them at one of the marinas owned by the company, Strong’s also has plenty of customers who keep their boats at other marinas or, if they live on the water, at their own dock. They provide the same level of service to them as well, utilizing one of their 13 mobile vehicles to be on hand when called upon.

The company also puts its commitment to high level service in writing.

Ryan Strong said that Strong’s is the only company in the area that puts it in writing, at the big boat shows during the year, that they will automatically enroll all their customers in their total care service package when they buy a boat. Many other companies make that pledge verbally, but not in a formal way.

“We hold ourselves accountable,” he said.

Strong’s also offers its clients a lot of choice, offering a wide range of boats of all sizes for sale. They are the authorized dealer of Cobalt, Regal, and Pursuit boats for Long Island and the five boroughs, and the authorized dealer of Grady-White boats in Nassau County and the five boroughs. Strong’s is also the authorized dealer for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut for Cruiser Yachts and has been the authorized dealer for Fairline Yachts, a British luxury yacht maker, since 2022, in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Fairline makes yachts up to 68 feet, and Strong’s has yachts in stock and ready for purchase.

Strong’s is also an authorized dealer — in Nassau County and the five boroughs — of Cobia, a fishing brand similar to Grady-White,

Strong’s can sell a lot of boats, but they never simply sign the deal, hand over the keys, and move on.

“We cover the safety aspect, and once that barrier is checked off, they can go and enjoy the boat. But we make time to follow up and check in with any questions people might have,” Ryan Strong said, adding that the business provides continuing education for the whole family. Even if one family member is experienced, if a child or spouse wants to learn how to operate the boat, Strong’s is there to help them learn.

“That’s what makes purchasing from us unique,” Ryan Strong said. “And with our locations being vast across Long Island, it definitely makes customers feel certain that they will have the ability and access not only to our properties, but are somewhat close proximity to facilities and service locations wherever they are.”

Ryan Strong added another important aspect of what sets Strong’s apart.

“The whole Strong’s family are actually boaters themselves and are actively boating out on the water with you,” he said. “That’s a big differentiator from other companies that might have marinas and have a boat but they don’t really use it, or it sits at the dock and they don’t make time for it. You have to be in it to understand what customers are looking for.”

Because boating licenses are now mandatory for everyone, as of this year, Jeff Strong said that the boating classes Strong’s offers are more important than ever. They even offer a “women on the water” course, specifically geared toward women who want to become more skilled at navigating their investments through local waters. The classes cover everything from dockage and navigation and more with a licensed captain that is also a Strong’s employee. The women on the water class is open to everyone, not just clients. They also offer an “Unlock the Locks” class, which teaches boaters how to safety navigate the tricky waters of the Shinnecock locks.

These kinds of services have become even more important in recent years, as there has been a trend of people with no prior experience getting into boating. Some of it was caused by the pandemic, when people who otherwise may have spent their money on a big trip or some other investment were forced to pivot. Boating emerged as a safe and fun way to spend time with friends and family in an outdoor environment.

“That has definitely accelerated in the last five years, and part of it is connected with a desire to unplug and have a feeling of connecting with nature,” Jeff Strong said. “We have some of the most beautiful waters in the world on the South Fork and Peconic Bay.

In many ways, learning how to operate a boat has become much less daunting, thanks to advances in technology like joystick docking and integrated bow thrusters. It’s made the endeavor more accessible, particularly for women and for those who have no prior boating experience.

Strong’s also prides itself on being able to respond to whatever customers desire, at whatever level of expertise they have. While become fully immersed in the experience of boat ownership, others, who may only be in the area for a limited time, prefer to take part in the Strong’s Boat Club, where they can choose from a fleet of 20 boats to rent for a day or weekend, at locations in Mattituck, Southampton and East Hampton.

Whether it’s providing a wide and versatile ranges of options for customers, sticking with the 80-year strong tradition of “super service,” or providing continued support long after a purchase is made, Strong’s has remained at the top of the heap in the boating world both because of its years of experience and refusal to slide into complacency.

“They’re not stuck — they’re always evolving,” Marketing Manager Ally Stacy said. “They’re always catching on to trends and evolving to always give customers what they need. And it’s the same thing with their employees. They’re not stuck in the past, but they’re always looking at new technologies and new features and new ways of doing things to grow, for the business, but also to help their clients and employees.”

Both Jeff and Re Strong say they love what they do, and are committed to continuing to work for their beloved family business even as they’ve crossed the threshold into retirement age. But they know the company is in good hands as well, not just with their sons, but with the rest of the management team.

“Ryan is doing a great job as VP, and we have a great senior leadership team in addition to our board, which Jay is very active on,” Jeff said. “We’ve been pretty strategic about investing in people to take on more and more responsibility, so I’m able to be freer now and not bogged down with the day to day aspects of running the business.”

Many of the Strong’s employees have been with the company for years, with 22 of them having worked for the company for a decade or longer.

Re Strong perhaps summed it all up the best.

“Anything that has to do with boating,” she said. “We do it.”