Looking for the ultimate beach chair?

So am I.  In fact, I am forever seeking the perfect beach experience and that journey begins with – the beach chair.

Our chairs bit the dust yesterday so today we embarked on a hunt for the best, best priced and best looking beach chairs.

What I look for

Over years of beach bumming, I have come up with a descriptive list of the perfect beach chair. It must be:

Light

Easy to fold up

Reclinable

Equipped with a place to put stuff like a water bottle, sunglasses, phone, a couple of bucks for Italian ices

Dealbreakers:

Sunshade

Insulated cooler pack

Shoulder straps

Settle?  Never!

We cruised up Beach 116th Street but the selection was not good.  Not bad for a daytripper but not good for a local.

On to Broad Channel where a guy sells stuff out of his truck on Cross Bay Boulevard.

“Chair or umbrella?”  he smiles hopping out of his van where Bob Marley and the Wailers was playing.  He had a range of chairs but his prices were all upper end and he was not interested in negotiating or handling.  I suppose if you position yourself as the Last Chance Beach Chair Stand you can charge big dollars.

We headed out to Lawrence and to Costco – the mecca of massive shopping.

“Let’s see if we can go in and get only what we came for – beach chairs.”  I gave Seth a look that could only mean Ha! Are you kidding? as I manouevered an oversized shopping cart down the aisle.  “Let the games begin!”

Luckily, my friend Edy who lives a block away from the beach was already at Costco and had told me about a great beach chair by Tommy Bahama that was on sale for about twenty bucks.  And there they were!  We quickly scanned them against our Checklist of Beach Chair Virtues and voila!  Not only were they were perfect, they also had a place to hang your beach towel and a pillow for your head.

OK, all you beach bums.  Our beach experience rocks and so can yours!

Check out the Tommy Bahama beach chairs at your local Costco and if you are able to leave with just those, let me know how you did it!

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