Daytona beach businesses are back open after Hurricane Irma, but now they desperately need people to walk through their doors.

  • Daytona Beach businesses not seeing a lot of customers post-Irma
  • Hurricane did quite a bit of damage along the beach
  • COMPLETE COVERAGE: Irma -- After the Storm

Rick's Surf Bar and Restaurant is back open, but owner Rick Gehris said they are not getting many customers.

"It's dead, business has come to a 100 percent halt," Gehris said.

He's still opening the doors and setting up as usual. He reopened two days ago (Tuesday) after he closed because of Hurricane Irma.

He believes the damage in the area has been keeping the customers away.

"Normally there's more people here because there's more traffic," Gehris said. "You can see it's like a construction site right now. Nobody wants to really hang out when you're listening to jackhammers and a bunch of noise."

Gehris said it's not as noisy in the night hours, which helps out businesses a little.

Before the storm many of the businesses in the area boarded up and left. Irma's rain and wind caused some tremendous damage.

"This year's hurricane knocked down our sign, broke a window, but it destroyed the hotel's roof across the street. So they're closed down right now, that's like 80 percent of our business," said Gehris.

"This is how we survive, this is how we pay the bills. Come on out, help me pay the rent. I need all the help I can get," he added.

Gehris said he is remaining positive that their businesses will once again thrive and hopes others will do the same.

"Whether I'm slow or busy, I'll take what I can get just to have the opportunity. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I'm going to hang in there," said Gehris.

Gehris said luckily he got a small business loan to help keep his business afloat and recover from damage after Hurricane Matthew.  He said he has been grateful for that extra help to keep them open.