Ocean resident Gino Dellomo on what makes his hometown so special

By:  | March 13, 2025 |  |  Shrewsbury

By Emma Sylvia

In my talks with Monmouth County business owners and residents, there’s a common thread: A sense of community and a love for our corner of the state. Longtime Ocean Township resident Gino Dellomo discusses what it means to live in Monmouth, and why he can’t ever imagine leaving.

Dellomo was born and raised in Ocean Township and currently works as a manager at Shrewsbury Volkswagen. He acknowledges the differences between how the town is presently versus when he was a kid.

“As our population is growing, we have new people coming in and people that are leaving. There’s a transition going on. It’s one of the best places you can live in.” He notes Ocean’s fantastic residents, school systems, and how family-oriented it is. Ocean Township famously has a superb school system, something that Dellomo takes part in, his two children (aged 11 and 13) are enrolled in the Ocean schools just as their dad was. Dellomo personally attended Wanamassa Elementary – where Joe Palaia was his principal.

“We have a lot of great educators in our school system that care deeply about our kids. There’s a lot of parent interaction. I went through the ranks of the school system, and my kids are thriving with that.”

After going through the OT school district, Dellomo jumped right into his career selling cars. At age 19, he sought a management position. After being told that a management position at his age was impossible, he sold cars for six months and was able to achieve his original goal.

Dellomo jokes that when he began working, the car industry was akin to the Wild West.

“The industry had the reputation of the old school, car salesman type thing,” he notes. Such a reputation led to many people entering the store with anxiety and trepidation. “When I started, there was a lot of screaming and yelling. Managers didn’t respect their sales people or other managers. In today’s climate, things have evolved for the better. The dealership I work at is customer oriented. We’re extremely friendly; we’re a no pressure store. We’re not gonna pressure you into purchasing a car if you’re not ready. We look forward to people coming back.” 

Being the manager at Shrewsbury Volkswagen, Dellomo prioritizes training his salespeople in order to give the customer the best experience. “I make sure they have the right information. Answering a customer’s question with the right information is important; if you don’t know the answer, you’ll figure it out.” Shrewsbury Volkswagen also prides itself on its high customer satisfaction. “[Buying a car] should be fun, not stressful. A lot of times, people come in with their guard up and leave with their guard down. They leave not just as customers, but as friends.”

Dellomo is happy to note that some customers are on their tenth car with Shrewsbury Volkswagen. This friendly atmosphere that the team at Shrewsbury has cultivated is what makes them both stand out from the competition and thrive, with 60% of their business being from a referral. 

He credits this success to the teamwork of his staff. “When I started,” Dellomo recalls, “the culture was very different. If a customer walked in and everyone was busy, sometimes that customer wouldn’t get acknowledged. Our staff is trained to stop what they’re doing, acknowledge a customer, and alert management. If you have a good management team and they train their departments properly, you'll get the best results.”

For Dellomo, the friendly and well-rounded atmosphere at his workplace is reflected in the overall vibe of the Monmouth County, and Ocean Township in particular. “It’s a great place to live in – it’s the best county in the state of New Jersey. Ocean is one big community, but we have several other communities within it. We have Ocean, but we also have Wayside, Wanamassa, Oakhurst, Colonial Terrace, West Deal, West Allenhurst – lots of different communities. I look at Monmouth as the same thing. It’s one umbrella as a community, but also individual ones. They all strive for the same thing — to do well and raise a family.”

Dellomo is happy to say that 2024 ended well and he expects 2025 is to be extremely successful, with a lot to look forward to as a whole and calls for it to be a year of positivity.

“I think we need some positive reinforcement out there. People need to spend more time getting out and engaging each other.” He notes, though, that living in a town like Ocean makes that easy, with a plethora of great community events and amenities, with Joe Palaia park featuring several festivals and events for kids and seniors alike.

Something that also sets Monmouth apart, in Dellomo’s eyes, is the involvement of our local political leaders. “I see a lot of bipartisanship, which I’m a big fan of. It should be that way everywhere you go. It’s what makes a county thrive.”