••• Legacy is the latest store to leave Coast Village Road; its last day will be February 14. Previous departures include Marcus, Ready Set Confetti, Maison K, Allora by Laura, and Baske.
••• I couldn’t make sense of this flyer posted at the Cold Spring trailhead, so I emailed the person doing the research, whose response didn’t clear things up all that much: “The purpose of the study is to gain insight from recreational users of the Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino, and Cleveland national forests in Southern California about topics related to your use of these forests and the messages you may have seen in these areas or virtually. Additionally, we aim to receive input regarding experiences, decision making leading up to hiking, and messaging about risk.” The focus groups are all booked up.
••• Lake Street Dive plays the Santa Barbara Bowl on June 28.
••• Two new shows open January 31 at Sullivan Goss: “Spanning nearly 125 years, The Storytellers offers a survey of the techniques artists have employed to tell stories, spark imagination, and shape our collective understanding of the world. This exhibition will bring together traditional illustration, documentary photography, concept art for Hollywood films, contemporary figurative painting, and cutting-edge AI-generated imagery.” (Below: “She Couldn’t Wait…” by Chris Peters.) And there’s also a “new solo exhibition for painter Angela Perko entitled Imagined Landscapes & Other Stories. Four landscape paintings and six still life paintings feel timeless and reassuring, even as a certain sense of the transcendent or mystical winks at passersby.”
••• Float Luxury Spa has opened an outpost at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort.
••• I’ve been meaning to go to Florabundance in Carpinteria for a long time, and a houseguest was the perfect excuse to finally do it. The flower wholesaler has a fantastic collection inside a giant refrigerated room, and a friend who grows flowers insists they’ll last much longer than ones you buy elsewhere. I pick up some peonies and ranunculi, and almost pulled the trigger on some funky proteas. (There are also dried flowers.) Florabundance is only open to the public on Thursdays and Fridays, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and it’s not cheap—so here’s hoping they really do last!
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Why do you think so many businesses on Coast Village Road are closing? Raised rents? Retirement? Too high end to sustain business financials? Wrong demographic for SB?
All of the above? Plus, with seemingly more part time residents of Montecito, fewer customers?
I had a store in Seattle for 18 years and if you have what people want and need, they will support your business. Women want gifts for other women and men need ideas to help them have confidence in the gifts they give. Simple, complimentary gift wrap is added value. I do not like to give special gifts that I have not seen in person so I shop when I’m on the road at small shops like Junk Girls in SLO.
Part of the impact of LA invasion and transformation of Montecito into extension of West LA Shops will be replaced by Rodeo Drive equivalents
And everyone sits by and lets it happen
Retail is struggling everywhere and coast village road is no exception. Everyone learned how to buy online during the pandemic and that’s how a lot of people shop now. The only stores I go to anymore are Pierre LaFond/Wendy Foster and Old Navy. Everything else comes in the mail!
You can’t go wrong with ranunculi!
If your Spanish is good, you can apparently still join a listening session about your recreational use of the national forests on February 5th: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sesiones-de-escucha-sobre-actividades-recreativas-en-los-bosques-nacionales-tickets-1105045122709?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
It sure would have been nice if she had shared about more with you about the purpose of the study.
Regarding Coast Village Road, it might good to see the end dates of the leases of the departing shops. Might just be a bad harmonic convergence.
Beyond that, a renegotiated to market lease might be beyond the departing shop’s means.
Retail is tough.
22 years ago there was an enchanting young children’s store where we bought clothes for my son. He is all grown up now. The needs of the buying public change beyond the attack of online retail.