Tag archives: local business
Customers at Montecito’s quaint upper village grocery store may notice a new face behind the meat case: Don Fortin is the store’s new meat manager and butcher. “I have big shoes to fill,” he told us during a recent visit. Fortin was brought on the team to fill the position left by longtime butcher Tony […]
Joey Castanon, the Santa Barbara Bristol Farms store director,and his team are celebrating their one-year anniversary on August 21. With a last-minute pivot to adhere to the updated mask protocols, they are proceeding with in-store special events and freebies, like having their chef make your guacamole order with ingredients you select, 40% off meats from […]
Upper Village clothing and accessory boutique Juniper has moved to the Lower Village, next to Sakana in Coast Village Walk. Owner Marie Ferris, who originally hails from the East Coast, moved to Montecito in 2017 to open the store after operating a successful boutique in Del Mar for more than 16 years. Ferris’s well-known Del […]
If you recently moved into the neighborhood and you want to fit right in, these few tips should assist in the transition from city slicker to Montecitan. Despite almost a half-century of living here under my belt – and summer forays in my youth with my best friend whose grandparents had a second home in […]
When Jennifer Blevins opened her first electric bike shop in 2018, she explained, “Everyone thought we were crazy, but they didn’t understand electric bikes yet.” Blevins is the owner, founder, and CEO of Montecito’s new all-electric bike shop, Mad Dogs and Englishmen. The pandemic has driven dramatic growth in unexpected categories, including electric bicycles. According […]
The pets we keep are an extension of our personalities. Dog people are often distinct personality types from cat people and when you get into reptiles, fish, and other exotic pets, it says even more about the owner. At Odd Animal Corals & Critters, unique pets are their business. Odd Animals was opened by fellow […]
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating four recent burglaries at local businesses where the suspects forced entry overnight and stole items. The first incident was Friday, July 23, 2021 in the 5800-block of Hollister Avenue at Old Town Coffee. A suspect smashed a window to gain entry, stole various items from inside the business, […]
One of Montecito’s longest running businesses, Glamour House, will close at the end of the month. Owner Ann Picciuto calls the closure of the intimate apparel store a “happy ending and a new beginning.” She and her husband, Rick Gehrke, sat down with us earlier this week. Picciuto took over the long-standing Upper Village fixture […]
Two months after the closure of Read N’ Post in the Montecito Country Mart, the shopping center’s newest store, Montecito Mercantile, has opened, a sister store to owner Carrie Schei’s beloved Salt House Mercantile on Bainbridge Island. The shop, which is managed and overseen by longtime retailer and merchandiser Kelly Finefrock, has been transformed to […]
Dax and Milo may be old dogs, but they are wagging their tails for the new trick, er, brand, that has been created with their names front and center. Enter Montecito mom Amanda Tenold, who is as 93108 as they come. She grew up on East Valley, playing tennis at Knowlwood and attending Montecito Union […]
At a hearing on Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council considered modifying aesthetic guidelines related to the outdoor dining in the public right-of-way on State Street, and on parklets in other areas of the city, including Coast Village Road. Many in the community were under the impression that the meeting was to consider removal of […]
A new aquarium store has opened in the Upper Village, in the space formerly occupied by Stationery Collection. Aquatic Jewels is owned by longtime aquarium enthusiast Dottie Allen and her business partner Mark Amescua, who opened the shop in late April. “We’ve always wanted to open a shop here in Montecito, and when this space […]
Mayor and Councilmembers, You have an agenda item coming up June 22, agenda item No. 16, that could remove parklets in July, or impose onerous modifications on them. Please avoid doing this. It is the most business unfriendly thing you could do right now. Thanks to the quick actions of Anthony Wagner, and the blessing […]
As foodies return to dine-in service, one local eatery is commanding attention with its authentic and flavorful approach to Spanish-Mediterranean cuisine and robust wine selections. Sevtap Winery is a new tasting room in the Presidio that lures food and wine lovers on its breezy umbrella-shaded patio or inside, a naturally lit and airy dining room. […]
Tuesday marked 453 days since Governor Newsom issued the first stay-at-home order for California. It also acted as a Reopening Day, of sorts, with all tiered systems of restrictions lifted for California. Santa Barbara County barely squeaked into the yellow tier one week ago. Now all the tiers are gone. What does reopening and lifting […]
“When life gives you kids” is the catch phrase for a new store in Montecito called Lemondrop, located in the Upper Village. Owned by Montecito mom of four, Ana Rudnicki, the new shop caters to the pre-teen or “tween” set: kids between the ages of 8 and 14. “I know I am not the only […]
When a local Santa Barbara hair stylist envisioned an ideal post-COVID world, he saw back-to-back appointments for flourishing small businesses like his own. The pandemic proved disastrous for small businesses across the globe, many forced to lock their doors for months, missing out on street passersby or walk-ins that expanded clientele. With the brewing return […]
After more than a year helping many of their business constituents navigate through catastrophic blows to business, the Board of Directors of the Coast Village Association has one primary goal for 2021: To form a Community Benefit Improvement District, or CBID, in order to take control of the street’s aesthetics, safety, and marketing ventures. “We’re […]
Montecito alum Kate McHale Jensen has opened a brick-and-mortar shop in Santa Barbara to house her four-year-old sustainable clothing company, KMJ. It was nearly 12 years ago that Kate was on the cover of this newspaper after opening a Coast Village Circle studio and showroom to debut her first fashion foray, a line of fit […]
Local fashion fixture Kate McMahon is back on Coast Village Road, opening a pop-up in Montecito Country Mart to offer her full clothing collection called Covet. McMahon took a multi-year hiatus from the brick-and-mortar retail scene, focusing instead on selling her luxury knitwear — including her famous sweaters — online. “It felt like the right […]
