I’m on vacation and I saw for the first time in my life companies not just renting out beach equipment, like umbrellas and chairs, but setting it up for you as well.
Seems like a very convenient service. But it also means you can effectively reserve a prime spot on a public beach via one of these companies.
Is this widespread? Is it sanctioned?
Probably completely depends on the state and local laws. Here in Texas, beaches are considered public property of the State, which means in practice that if you have a beach house, you can’t prohibit or run off people who set up on the beach in front of your house.
It also means some weirder stuff, like if natural forces like hurricanes cause the location of the beach to change, so do the property lines, etc…
So I imagine if there was a company setting up beach chairs, etc… that it would be at the pleasure of the local authorities, and that they couldn’t rope off their own section of prime beach and prevent non-paying customers from sitting there. They could probably do something like require that any equipment you rent has to stay within some boundaries, but they can’t prevent others from entering.
I saw this on South Padre Island and we rented chairs and an umbrella for a day. The spot that you get really depends on when you get your rental. I got there early and got a prime spot next to the coast line, people who got there later had to take what ever was available, which was quite a bit further up the beach.
There’s nothing like that I know of in California but I suspect it’s a concession leased from the city, county, or state that overseas the beach, just like the snack bars and bike rental outfits.
At the beach near me, the equipment rental is run by the Cleveland Metroparks, the same agency that runs the whole park that the beach is part of, and most of the other parkland in the county.
In St Martin/Sint Maarten people get government permission to set up a small business on a beach. They then set up a snack stand/bar.chair&umbrella concession/etc. They build some buildings and rake the beach in an attempt to draw beach-goers. Some people lay on towels and do not spend a cent which is fine because it is a public beach.
Then a hurricane destroys everything. If the business was doing well, the people might rebuild.
I’m not really sure what you mean by “prime spot” but I’ve seen two versions of renting beach chairs and umbrellas. In one, you go to a stand and get the equipment you are renting and find a spot and set it up yourself. Just as if you had brought your own equipment. In the other, the chairs and umbrellas are already set out when you arrive - but it’s not like their equipment is all close to the water and you have to stay far back if you don’t rent from them. The chairs and such are all in a confined area , but it’s X feet wide and goes from the water’s edge further back toward the boardwalk or street. The rest is open to the public from the edge of the water on back.
It’s very common in Europe. Go to a public beach in Portugal or wherever, and any free spot on the sand is available gratis, but if you want one of the plastic lounge chairs, it’s ten or twenty euros for the afternoon. The more remote beaches don’t have this, but if you’re within walking distance to a bar or other commercial strip, there will be a beach furniture rental place.
Here in FL, any land seaward of the mean highwater mark belongs to the state and anyone can use it. If a hurricane moves the land, your property lines do not change and you can conceivably end up with a lot that is under water. I know of an undeveloped subdivision on a barrier island that is slowly moving out to sea as the island changes location.
In this case, the equipment was set up by 7:30 am waiting for the renters to show up.
No confined area that I could see. The prime spots, based on my observations, are closest to the stairs so people don’t need to lug their stuff very far.
It’s a big beach and the 4 pop-ups I saw weren’t really a big deal. Just kind of struck me as the sort of thing I’d want to shut down early if I were a beach commissioner.
Who gets that money? The local government?
No, they’re private concessionaires. They pay a fee to the city or other local administration like any other business.
I wonder if the city limits them then. Wouldn’t want a company to be able to effectively restrict access to public land by covering it with rental chairs.
For all I know that’s already being done in this case, and it may all be on the up and up.
Same in California. All beaches are public property (although access to the beach may go through private property, making access difficult).
(Hard to believe that California and Texas do something the same way. 
)
It’s extremely common on beaches throughout places like Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal (less so France, for some reason). No doubt the local council has its own limits on how much space it’s prepared to rent. There’s always part of the beach that is free to use, including right between the sun loungers and the sea if you want to make yourself really awkward about it.
The benefit of the ‘beach clubs’, as they’re known, is that they usually come with a bar, restaurant, changing facilities and toilets… and often waiter service to your sun lounger.
Here in Florida this is very common on public beaches.
The city or county grants an exclusive license to a private company to set out a pile of beach chairs, chaises, umbrellas, portable cabanas, etc. They have an area within a stretch of publicly-owned beach they are restricted to using. Their staff will take your payment, set up their stuff for you, and ensure nobody else sits on “your” stuff during the duration of your rental.
Anyone can pass through their area and set up their own personal gear in that same area. No other competing commercial ventures are allowed on that beach.
Whether the city / county gets a percentage of the private venture’s revenue off the top or whether the venture pays a fixed fee for the right to operate varies.
Here’s a contractor local to me: Beach Service. Their website certificate is expired, so your browser might complain. But there’s nothing nefarious going on there.
Many of my friends / neighbors have their annual “all you can eat” pass and visit their various beaches with no need to lug any equipment besides their personal towel, sunglasses, & book. Tres convenient.
Apparently Texas tends to ape California jurisprudence, as much as the goons in Austin would like to deny it.
Florida is sorta-similar. The area from the high tide line towards the ocean belongs to no one and everyone. All may pass or use and no one may restrict passage.
The area landward from the high tide line may be public or private property. In many areas the government owns a strip of some non-negligible width above the high tide line and operates that as a long, thin public park, whereas private owners may own the land further back, but still extending onto the sand or immediately adjacent to the inland sand line.
If private owners’ property does extend all the way down to the high tide line, they can restrict use of their beach, but not passage over it. So you can walk through, but not set up stuff. Of course below the high tide line you can set up in front of their property, which works fine as long as it’s not high tide right now.
In the areas where private landowners do own the beach down to the high tide line, state law requires “public access” every so often, maybe once per half mile or full mile. Which in practice means a narrow, unmarked, and unmaintained concrete sidewalk leading from the nearest coast-wise street down to the sand. And with zero provision for parking anywhere nearby. In effect it’s public access for those who live landlocked within walking distance nearby.
In this case at least, it was the other way around. The Texas Open Beaches Act was passed in 1959 and the California Coastal Act in 1976.