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greg Venable gets low in his sprint down the face of a high scoring wave at last weekend’s rincon Classic. Venable, a Carpinteria resident, got the judges’ attention in this heat and others, ultimately racking up enough points to claim the top spot in the grand Masters division. the annual surf contest drew hundreds of spectators to the famed cobblestone point where Mother Nature dished up a satisfying swell to complement the competition. For more photos and a full list of finalists, see pages 14 and 15.
Linden Ave. businesses ride out vacancies By Peter Dugré
Vons and then Haggen closing on Linden Avenue has left more than a void in the local grocery shopping landscape. Downtown shops are feeling the collateral damage of depleted foot traffic. “Nobody is coming downtown. People used to go to the grocery store to get whatever, and they’d see something really cute in the window and stop in,” said Rachel Nuñez, owner of Blue Orchid Boutique, a woman’s clothing store on the 900 block of Linden Avenue. Nuñez said that November 2015 saw a reduction in sales by 40 percent from the prior year. The winter season always signals a slow down from the summer tourism season, but downtown retail
vacancies have tightened the seasonal squeeze. Local holiday shoppers buoy the small businesses during December, but now that January is here, the lack of traffic has been exacerbated. “Downtown is decimated,” Nuñez said. In addition to the grocery store, 2015 saw the closure of Tony’s Restaurant, Cajun Kitchen and Beach Bowl, which combined represent that many fewer reasons to visit downtown and shop around. Small shop owners including Nicole Williams of Clothesline Boutique equate all the open parking spaces and
BUSINESSES continued on page 3
Haggen closing on Linden Avenue has left more than a void in the local grocery shopping landscape.