Little Silver Seeking Train Station Concessions Operator

Commuters have gone without trackside coffee for too long, and Little Silver is bidding to change that.

The borough is seeking an operator for the concessions stand inside the NJ Transit train station, a business which sold newspapers, coffee, juice, and a few pastries, until it was vacated by its previous tenant last spring.

"Our prior tenant felt that, partly due to a dip in train ridership at the time, he could not attract sufficient customers to sustain the business," said Mayor Robert Neff, Jr.

Neff said a previous attempt to rent the station attracted no bidders, but there is at least one party interested this go around.

The mayor said the town is looking for someone to provide the concession service for daily and potentially weekend commuters, without competing with existing businesses.

Minimum bids begin at $900 a month, and the winning bidder will also receive four 15-minute parking spaces in the station side parking lot.

"It would in no sense be a profit center for the borough, but at the same time we can't ask taxpayers to subsidize a train station concession. We're trying to maintain that happy medium where our expenses in keeping the station open and maintaining the space would be met, but where the rent would not be so high as to put the concession out of business," Neff said, encouraging interested parties to pick up a bid package at .

Bids will be received and opened on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 10 a.m.

Thanks to our friends at for sending us this news tip via a posting to our Facebook page.