As local businesses gear up for the holidays, the City of San Luis Obispo is hoping the downtown area sees a bit of a boost. It’s offering shoppers some incentives with its fourth annual Buy Local Bonus program.
This year, it comes amid the downtown area facing several challenges.
At least three restaurants have closed this year, including Splash Cafe and Big Sky Cafe. While neither shared specific reasons for their closures, Highwater, an upscale cocktail bar, mentioned "inflation and the economy" in an Instagram post.
The City’s Jacqui Clark-Charlesworth said the idea of the Buy Local Bonus program is to get people to spend more money downtown. To participate, people just have to do their holiday shopping at local stores and save those receipts.
“For every $100 a community member spends at a retail store on gifts, they can come into the Chamber of Commerce and receive a $25 gift card to another local business,” Clark-Charlesworth said.
One of the businesses participating is The Junk Girls.
Melissa James, one of the Junk Girls, sells upcycled and handmade gifts like art and jewelry. She said they started making crafts as a form of art therapy.
What began as an emotional outlet soon gained local popularity and caught the City’s attention.
“When they offered us this historic building in downtown SLO, we jumped at the chance to be here, and they said they were looking for something local and unique to fill this historic space,” James said.
James said the city’s Buy Local Bonus program has helped The Junk Girls and other downtown businesses bring in new customers.
“It gets the people into your store,” James said. “It's this wonderful win-win all the way around.”
City officials said the local economy needs all the support it can get, especially with a lot of people choosing to shop online.
As another way to encourage in-person shopping downtown, city parking structures are offering 12 days of free parking during the holiday season.
The free parking will start on Thanksgiving Day and last through Sunday. Parking will also be free every Sunday for the rest of the year, in addition to Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
The parking structures are located at:
- 842 Palm Street
- 919 Palm Street
- 871 Marsh Street
