ORANGE BEACH, Ala. - Lauren Beck of Seaside Shoes says her store in The Wharf did a better than expected spring break business and she’s gearing up for a bigger summer.

If she can keep the merchandise on the shelves.

“Better than expected,” she said of the spring break season. “For this store we really bought a lot of merchandise, stocked it up hoping that if we bought more we would sell more. That was the kind of mindset that we had.”

And it worked out. So well that when she went to restock, she couldn’t buy more of certain items.

“A lot of our stuff is selling out and our vendors are sold out of it so obviously things are better,” she said. “Nobody expected it, which is good.”

As the whole island looks toward the official opening of the summer season this weekend, signs of a booming economy are everywhere. More than a dozen restaurants are in the process of opening or have opened in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

A new airline, Southern Airways Express recently announced it was adding flights into Gulf Shores from Memphis, New Orleans and Birmingham.

At the forefront of the surge has been The Wharf. Ahead of its “100 Days of Summer” program, a dolphin cruise boat is available for tours, helicopter tours are available and the complex recently spent nearly $2 million on a light show that will be featured twice nightly.

This is in addition to all the concerts, fishing tournaments, boat shows and other festivals. Speaking of festivals, one with rides will operate all summer long just south of the main retail complex.

New restaurants include Wolfe’s Louisiana Pantry, Bimini Bob’s and Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar.

“I think it’s coming back around,” Beck said. “Especially The Wharf and this area is going to get big. I think all of this is going to draw people and the restaurants coming in, it’s a draw.”

The Hangout Music Festival just ended its fourth wildly successful year, but it starts on the weekend before the traditional start of summer. Similar events, the first of which was the National Shrimp Festival each October, have popped over the years in an effort to extend that summer boom feeling.

“The overall theme is we’re getting more than just the summer weeks now,” Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said. “We’re starting to get some of those weeks in October and in March and April that support us in ways we didn’t get before.

“Even though we’re not where we want to be with a much-expanded season, the season is gradually expanding. And a lot of it has to do with the events we are working hard to promote to give people reasons to come to the beach although it’s not summer.”

Growing numbers back that up. The 2012 tourism numbers for the whole year set records and this year seems poised to eclipse those yet again. According to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism, 2013’s year-to-date numbers are up with lodging revenue coming in at a 13.4 percent increase and retail sales at a 5.8 percent increase from this point last year.

“Tourism is economic development,” Herb Malone, president and CEO of the tourism group said.

One of the biggest draws for the area is the Sports Commission of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism. In 2012 it helped promote 88 sporting events from college to little league level. So far this year the sports commission has hosted 29 events, resulting in $4 million in direct visitor spending, the bureau reported.

For the second year in a row Gulf Shores will be the host for the official kickoff of the Southeastern Conference football season with BeachFest on Aug. 15-18.

In addition, Lee Sentell, the State of Alabama’s director of tourism, said the coastal area’s tourism economy impacts the entire state.

“What’s happening today is a watershed for this destination, where coastal Alabama has changed the image of our state with a destination that people love,” said Sentell. “You have changed others’ impressions of the state as a whole. Watching the research that has been done tells me how your resources and assets have changed over the 10 years that I have been in this position.”

Back in the shoe and accessory shop Beck, who is co-owner of Seaside Shoes, which also has a location in Foley on Alabama 59, hopes more and more people keep finding their way to The Wharf.

“We still get people in our other store that say ‘The Wharf? Where’s The Wharf?’” she said with a laugh. “They’ve been coming here five years and don’t even know about it.”

Word is quickly getting out.