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Inside This Edition

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A publication of Lee Central Coast Newspapers Publisher Cynthia Schur publisher@leecentralcoastnews.com

Managing Editor Marga Cooley mcooley@leecentralcoastnews.com

Chambers celebrate small businesses with events, promotions

Shopping an interactive experience at Leisure Time Games

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Arrow Camera puts customer service, technology first

Woody’s Butcher Block puts money were the meat is — LOCAL BUSINESS

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Surf Connection equals community connection in Lompoc

Flavors of Mexico tempt palates at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 18

Toy Zoo features educational toys, hobby items and more

Old Town Quilt Shop: classes, space for retreats, and yards of material

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Circulation Manager Guillermo Tamayo gtamayo@leecentralcoastnews.com

ADVERTISING SALES Claudia Delgado cdelgado@leecentralcoastnews.com

Danyelle Chavez dchavez@leecentralcoastnews.com

Ed Galanski gtamayo@leecentralcoastnews.com

Gaila Anderson ganderson@leecentralcoastnews.com

Katie Batterbee kabtterbee@leecentralcoastnews.com

Ricardo Epps repps@leecentralcoastnews.com

Sara Edwards sedwards@leecentralcoastnews.com

(805) 925-2691 3200 Skyway Drive Santa Maria, CA 93455

www.santamariatimes.com www.lompocrecord.com www.syvnews.com Reproduction of this publication in full or in part is not allowed unless written permission has been obtained from Lee Central Coast Newspapers.

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Chambers celebrating small businesses with events, promotions Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

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hambers of Commerce throughout the region will celebrate Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26 with promotions intended to boost business to locally owned and operated shops and restaurants.

“Shopping locally provides economic vitality to the local community. I can buy my dog food online, or spend a little more to buy it in town. I want to do business with people I can see and shake hands with every day,” said Tracy Beard, executive director of Solvang Chamber of

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Commerce.

According to the American Independent Business Alliance, independent retailers return to their community more than three times as much money per dollar of sales than chain competitors. Locally owned restaurants, the alliance reports, give twice as much back to their communities as chain eateries.

“When I’m shopping in my neighborhood, in my village community, I know the people I’m buying from. I know where the product comes from. I know when I shake their hand and hand them my money that they know I’m helping them out economically so they can buy

coffee locally, get their hair cut locally.

It means you’re dealing with your neighbors, your friends, helping the community grow in providing financial support right here at home,” Beard said.

Throughout the years, Chambers of Commerce have developed a variety of programs to help business owners interact with each other and the community at large. Upcoming events continue that tradition.

“We’re here to support business in our community. We do whatever we can to support them through different campaigns, advocacy with local government regarding businessContinued on page 6

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ith the holiday season just around the corner, Santa Maria Transit invites you to get on the bus. SMAT offers easy routes to many of the favorite local shopping locations and you avoid the hassle of finding a parking space. If you’re looking to shop a little further from home, then the Breeze is for you. Make getting around this holiday season a breeze on the bus.

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campaigns to help highlight some of the city’s local businesses. The campaign will include video interviews with local businesses, feature articles on the Chamber News site, email blasts and the Chamber Connection printed newsletter.

issues that get mailed to more than related policies, and the fact you’re 850 local community members. networking with each other provides “Shopping online or at large outbusinesses another opportunity to of-town retailers can feel easier and get to know each other,” said Ken likely offers a wider range of choices.

Ostini, president and chief executive What it doesn’t do, though, is officer of Lompoc Valley Chamber of support our neighbors and the Commerce. broader Santa Maria The Santa Maria Chamber community,” Morris said. of Commerce is celebrating “Next time you’re at a youth small businesses on Nov. 26 sporting event, or with lots and lots of swag, community social/cultural among other things. program, take a look at the Chamber members will businesses who are receive bags, balloons, sponsoring the teams or — Ken Ostini stickers, pins, reminders, underwriting the posters, even floor mats, said performance. If those are Chamber CEO Glenn Morris. All have The Chamber is also offering stores that you frequent, then you are shop local messaging and encourage members opportunities to promote part of that support network. people to shop local – particularly on their businesses through “The next time your neighbor or a Small Business Saturday. advertisements and flyers, including family member talks about their job Additionally, the Chamber is a coupon flyer which will appear in at a local business, remember that partnering with its members on a the Chamber Connection print the revenue needed to pay their variety of print and social media newsletter’s October and November salary comes from locals like you and Continued from page 4

When we shop locally, the money recycles back into our community. It goes above and beyond just shopping local.”

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me patronizing the business,” he continued.

The Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce has partnered with American Express for Shop Small on Nov. 26. Small businesses that sign up for the event will be included in a published map which customers can pick up at participating businesses.

As shoppers visit businesses, they earn stamps which make them eligible to enter a drawing for prizes donated by those businesses.

“When we shop locally, the money recycles back into our community. It goes above and beyond just shopping local. Our local businesses give back to the community with donations to different events, be it products or money, and our businesses are active parts of the community because they are the community,” Ostini said.

Ask any local kid who has done some fundraising who is most likely to hand over a donation of cash, prizes or services, and she’s likely to

point to a locally owned store.

“Businesses get asked all the time for donations. You want to do business with people who do business with you. The more you shop with them, the more apt they are to donate to your cause,” said Kathy Vreeland, executive director of Buellton Chamber of Commerce.

While retail chains can and do take part in local communities to some extent, managers’ decisions typically are ruled by corporate policy.

“Sometimes, some of the corporate businesses tell us they can’t be involved in events, in the Chamber, because corporate dictates that,” Ostini said.

The advent of the internet has also been a challenge for locally owned and operated businesses, but Chambers remind shoppers that there are immediate rewards for taking the time to shop locally.

While many products are available online for door-to-door delivery, Chambers are quick to point out that

Visitors explore the booths at a recent Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce Business Expo.

local businesses provide customer service only possible through interpersonal interactions.

“There’s a lot of personal satisfaction from shopping locally.

You get to touch and feel the product and you get that face-to-face interaction, plus you provide jobs for our local economy members, sometimes even high school kids with their first jobs. It helps the sales tax in each city to maintain programs and functions of the city, too,” Vreeland said.

And while many goods are available online, most services cannot be provided remotely.

“You can’t get your coffee online.

You can’t get a fresh-baked pastry still warm from the oven online. You can’t get lunch online. When you go to your local bakery for coffee, you see that dedication to keeping the doors open for the community, where a franchise will close its doors in an instant if the profit margin isn’t there,” Beard said.

Contributed photo

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Shopping an interactive experience at Leisure Time Games

Ken Guge, owner of Leisure Time Games at the Santa Maria Town Center Mall, supervises game night on a recent Friday at his store. Since 1999, Guge has run downtown Santa Maria’s only game store. In addition to selling games and comic books, his store provides space for regular game night gatherings as well as the annual gamers’ convention, CenCon. Len Wood/Staff

encourage math. We’re not button pushers. These games require thought. It’s not Monopoly,” Guge ames are meant to be played said. with others. They’re social, The store specializes in tabletop communal by nature. In Santa games for the cerebral set: “Settlers of Maria, shopping for them can be an Catan,” “Magic: The Gathering,” equally attractive, interactive “Warhammer 40,000,” “Dungeons & experience.

Dragons.” There are card games, comic Since 1999, Leisure Time Games books, manga and models. This the owner Ken Guge III has provided a safe Central Coast’s home of “Attack on haven for gamers with a penchant for Titan,” “Black Clover,” and “Onelogic, strategy and critical thinking.

Punch Man.” His shop, in Santa Maria Town Center “One thing that separates us from since 2004, provides space to discover the internet is game days. There’s no and test new games, and to meet way a store can compete on price, but regularly for gaming sessions with old the internet can’t provide the setting favorites. we do, with regular game nights that “We encourage reading. We are typically free, and three-day game Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

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events,” Guge said.

Leisure Time Games hosts game days several times each year, with the three-day CENCON gaming convention held each December for the past half dozen years.

They also provide local expertise with quick answers to customers’ questions. During the course of one interview, Guge stopped to address customers’ questions about Pokemon cards, poker dice, and play time on the store tables.

“The gaming world is a very nonjudgemental world. They don’t care that I’m a homeschool mom.

They won’t care if someone has purple hair and 20 earrings. They won’t care if someone’s a super uptight librarian

Game players compete at Leisure Time Games at the Santa Maria Town Center Mall on a recent Friday night.

with hair pulled back. If you play games, gamers will love you. It’s nice to go somewhere that your personal decisions, your life, aren’t judged. If you play games, you’re their people,” said Kimberly Terrill.

Terrill discovered Leisure Time Games a dozen years ago when her own children were small. They had moved to the Central Coast from Ohio, and had a tough time finding a local gaming community.

“In Ohio, lots of people play, probably because of the colder winters. But in California, people wanted to be outside all the time, it seemed. Finding gamers was a challenge,” said Terrill, who has since relocated back to Ohio.

They found their gaming home at Leisure Time Games.

“I love playing games, trying to figure the things out. There are a lot of

games you can change to play with your kids, no matter how old they are, or change just because you want to see how new rules will work out. You get to think about and work through all these ‘what-ifs,’” Terrill said.

The family became involved in the store’s gaming days, and ran tables at its first CENCON. “Ken was always very helpful. If we were looking for a particular game, if we wanted to demo a game, if we wanted to join in the game play at one of the little tables in the back,” Terrill said.

She became entranced by Looney Labs games, particularly FLUXX. “Ken let me set up a small, round table at the entrance of the store to demo some of the games. We got to play, introduced the game to other people, and it drew people to the store.

It worked for everyone,” Terrill said.

Len Wood/Staff

Specialty clothing related to games is offered at Leisure Time Games at the Santa Maria Town Center Mall.

Len Wood/Staff

For Guge, it’s all about fun and games and community.

“The internet can’t compete with community. We encourage you beyond just spending your money here. We want your presence here, to have a good time. By doing that, we give you a wider, broader spectrum than your little group of people. We encourage socializing,” Guge said.

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Arrow Camera puts customer service, technology first Staff members at Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center on E. Main St. in Santa Maria include James Manville, left, Kayla Sayer, business owner, Margrit Holmes and Marissa Flores.

Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

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o successful business person can sit on her laurels and watch the world go by. They work to evolve their businesses as technology and customer needs

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Len Wood/Staff

and desires change. Perhaps in no industry is that more apparent than in the photo business, and at no time more so than this age of the internet.

Since 1959, Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center has provided the Central Coast with a variety of customer services, from its initial focus on photo processing to camera sales and service, and now to digital photo production.

“It’s been a challenging road. The photo industry changes so rapidly. You can’t sit in a chair and figure you have it all figured out. You have to be highly motivated. Every day, you have to learn something new,” said Margrit Holmes.

Holmes has owned the business since 2011, but Arrow’s history extends back to 1943 when now-renowned photographer Wynn Bullock opened a commercial photo lab at 120 Church Street.

“We have quite a track record,” Holmes said.

Hank Datter purchased the business from Bullock in 1952, then moved Arrow to the old Santa Maria Times building, 207 W. Main St., where a retail store took over the front while photo processing dominated the back.

Kayla Sayer tones photos on a work station that allows the customer to see the photos at the same time at Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center on E. Main St. in Santa Maria.

By the 1950s, business was booming, and Datter expanded and added color photo processing by adding a facility in Orcutt in the old church across the road from Jack’s Restaurant. Larger facilities and a growing staff meant Arrow was able to provide film processing for camera stores and drug stores up and down the Central Coast.

In 1983, Arrow opened its first one-hour photoprocessing lab at Target Shopping Center, with additional quick labs added at Acorn Plaza in Orcutt and in Atascadero shortly thereafter, Holmes said.

Then came the digital age.

By 1994, with home printers and digital cameras coming onboard, it was time for a metamorphosis. The one-hour locations were closed, and Arrow moved to East Main Street where a drive-up window provided customers quick access.

In the midst of it all came Holmes, who worked for Datter for 30 years before taking over the business following his death, at the age of 98, in 2011.

“Hank really put his heart and soul into the company. I was very dedicated to him, and I couldn’t see closing the company. It’s been on the Central Coast for too long,” Holmes said.

The customer base also was too strong, and too deep, to let go, though the advent of the internet brought about fewer and fewer local sales.

“As technology changed and the focus of everything changed, businesses that used to make a go of it couldn’t do Continued on page 12

Len Wood/Staff

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services including photo restoration, slide scanning and it anymore,” said Steve Lewis, retired Hancock College image digitization, video editing, video transfers, and photo instructor. “With the advent of online ordering, you slideshow production for special events. There’s a photo can find the best price and have just about anything you studio, and photographers on staff are available for want delivered within two days. A store has to sell everything from executive portraits to family photos. customer service. That’s something that’s lost on a lot of “We encourage customers to bring shoeboxes of photos people now.” and slides. We provide fast turnaround times at high Holmes took it a step further. quality and reasonably low prices. We’re a small business.

“I knew the only way I could survive in this business was We have to do what mass producers cannot, which is to eliminate the camera store and take the company back to provide customer service and high-quality,” Holmes said. its core: developing and printing film,” Holmes said.

Today, Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center provides both old-school film processing and modern digital processing, canvas prints, printing on metal and large prints up to 64 inches wide. Digital workstations also allow customers to bring in everything from digital cameras to thumb drives, even camera phones, where customers can download, manipulate and edit images prior to printing.

Color and black-and-white photo paper and film remain available, largely for Hancock College photography students who still learn the traditional photo skills.

“More young people are shooting film. It’s the new, hip thing,” Holmes said.

Arrow staff members can also provide a variety of

Continued from page 11

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Top photo: Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center owner Margrit Holmes, center, talks with employee James Manville as he color corrects an image. Photo above: Marissa Flores checks prints made from film at Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center on E. Main St. in Santa Maria.

Len Wood/Staff

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Woody’s Butcher Block puts money were the meat is

— LOCAL BUSINESS

Tim “Woody” Woodbury owns Woody’s Butcher Block at 700 E. Main St. in Santa Maria. Since November 2012, Tim has served as Santa Maria Valley’s only dedicated butcher shop carrying prime meats, seafood, poultry and pork. Spices are created in store, as are a variety of sausages.

Len Wood/Staff

history,” Tim said.

By 1997, he’d drawn up plans for a butcher shop of his own, but he had here were times in Darlene and bigger fish to fry.

Tim Woodbury’s lives when “I had a great career going, so I just put they’d give just about anything for it in a binder and put it on a bookcase in a good cut of meat. my office,” Tim recalled.

In 2012, they did.

But dreams have a way of niggling, and Tim left his long-time, stable job, and by 2012, it was time to move on. together they opened Woody’s Butcher “One Tuesday, I was done. I called my Block, 700 E. Main St., and never looked wife. I was almost in tears. I said, ‘I just back. don’t want to do this anymore.’ It was When the Woodburys moved to Santa years of the pressure of being a Maria in 1987, Tim was an outside sales 100-percent commission salesman in a rep providing some 10,000 high-quality what-have-you-done-for-me-lately products to restaurants. But the family career. It was a good job, a great career. It couldn’t find sources for such great food bought me a house, paid for the kids’ available to everyday shoppers. college, but everyone’s familiar with “We lamented that there wasn’t a great Willie Loman, ‘Death of a Salesman.’ I butcher shop here,” Tim recalled. was done,” Tim said.

Williams Bros. initially served as their After 28 years in the food industry, he butcher of choice. walked away.

“But they sold to Vons, and the rest is “My wife was concerned about me.

Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

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There were lots of days she’d say, ‘You don’t look good.’ So I quit. I rode the recliner, had a lot of cigars, martinis, played golf,” Tim said.

He considered retiring altogether, felt the pressure dissipate, put together a new resume and started applying for jobs.

Darlene set him straight, and encouraged him to look for another line of work rather than re-enter the field that had driven him to the edge of his sanity. Their son reminded them of that binder, sitting on the shelf, full of butcher shop plans. While away visiting family, Darlene texted Tim: “The butcher shop idea? Go for it,” Tim recalled.

“The butcher shop stuck, grew legs.

The grandkids started talking about being able to work there. One thing led to another,” Tim said.

They started small, with a very Continued on page 14 Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

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Marissa Martinez makes a chicken chipotle sandwich at Woody’s Butcher Block.

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Len Wood/Staff

specialized menu of select items.

“Being in the restaurant business for so long, I saw what I thought were all the mistakes. Most people don’t make it more than a year, let alone two years or more. They were trying to be all things to all people from the get go. You just can’t do that,” Tim said.

Instead, Woody’s started with a narrow line of meat, poultry and pork with some cheeses selected for good measure.

Today, a granddaughter does, indeed, staff the counter.

Here, specialty sandwiches run the gamut from Italian Stallion with its shaved ham, mortadella, capicola, salami & prosciutto topped with Provolone cheese, onion, hot peppers and more to the Caprese Sandwich featuring tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella.

The meat counter includes beef, pork, fish, duck, quail, Cornish game hens, lamb and free-range chickens. There are house-made sausages, and rubs and spice mixes. Fresh fish is flown in Fridays through Sundays from Scotland and Alaska.

Woody’s sells the only steelhead trout that has the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch seal of approval.

“What we sell here is what you’d get in white-tablecloth restaurants. There are no commodity meats here. It’s all very special, very unique,” Tim said.

Best sellers include the Delmonico ribeye, a sort of primerib lollipop weighing in at an average of two pounds. There’s the beef-and-bacon burger blend composed of 75 percent steak, and 25 percent applewood smoked bacon. Filet mignon and hanging tenders round out the top four.

“The hanging tender is my favorite. It’s so versatile. So good just by itself, or your can add a little salt and pepper, or marinate it, or make kebobs. I’ve never had a bad one,” Tim said.

The five types of jerky and all the sausages sold here are made here, with the exception of linguica which they’ve also sourced locally. There are five types of seasonings made in-store, including a no-salt, all-purpose blend.

The cheese board features products from Central Coast Creamery out of Paso Robles, and the counter includes goods from Edna’s Bakery in San Luis Obispo.

Woody’s is the only local outlet for a local blend of coffee, Cafe San Drogo, sold to benefit Saint Joseph’s Supported Living Services’ Santa Maria Explorer’s Club.

“We do as much business locally as we can because, well, we want people to do business with us,” Tim said.

He uses the services of other shops in the plaza at 700 E. Main Street: Arrow Photo provides any camera work they need and all of Woody’s printing needs; Santa Maria Vacuum provides for certain cleaning needs.

“It’s a little more money, but I’d rather support local. Their businesses are like ours. We’re myself and five employees. My wife does the books. We’ve been in this town for 30 years now.

We live here. We started a business here. So we are them. We get it,” Tim said.

Surf Connection equals community connection in Lompoc

Robin Dunaetz, co-owner of Surf Connection in Lompoc, shows off some of the skateboards the shop offers with employee Jorge Perez.

He wasted no time, and that evening in 1994, they joined each other for a jaunt to Jalama Beach where Jana ran or Jana and Marshal Wilcox, onshore while Marshall took to the Lompoc’s Surf Connection is water. more than a surf shop. It’s home, They’ve been together ever since. family, and, for them, their love “Robin and David are like family to connection. us. They have big hearts. They’re good Jana was 17 when she saw Marshall people who do so much for the working in the shop, owned by Robin community and the store. They have a and David Dunaetz. commitment to excellence,” Jana said.

“I was super shy at the time. I went The shop at 1307 North H Street in a couple of times, then I put a hat on offers a full range of surf and skate hold and left my name and number, goods, from boards to fashion. implying I wasn’t actually putting the Consignment boards are also available hat on hold, but wanted Marshall to in the shop adorned with its own call me,” Jana said. vintage board collection dating back to Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

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Len Wood/Staff

the 1960s.

Since taking over the business in 1991, the Dunaetzes have embodied all that local store owners can be. In addition to providing sales and service to local surfers and skateboarders, they have partnered in myriad programs supporting the community at large.

“When you shop locally, particularly from a small business, you’re supporting your community. Those businesses give back a larger percentage of what they take in,” Robin said.

Surf Connection has all its printing done locally. It has also supported Continued on page 16 Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

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Robin Dunaetz, co-owner of Surf Connection in Lompoc, adjusts clothes at the store.

Continued from page 15

other local businesses by carrying their products, such as candles from Mooseberry Mountain, artwork, jewelry and gift items from Angie Hamlin, photography by Above the Reef and Thirdeye Dave, and buttons and magnets from Hummingbird Stationery. There are sugar scrubs, body butter and lip balm from Sweet Bliss Sugar Scrubs and Lompoc branded T-shirts provided by SMS Designs.

“That money spent in our store continues to recycle in our community, so the economic impact is much greater, and your taxes stay in our community,” Robin said.

In 2009, Surf Connection was recognized by Lompoc Parks and Recreation with the Lompoc Community Service Award.

Make Santa’s One Stop Full Service Surf & Skate Shop Your Holiday Headquarters.

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Len Wood/Staff

Surf Connection joined the Youth Commission to bring Lompoc its first skate park in 2000 after two years of planning, fundraising and community education. The store supports a variety of civic organizations as well, including Lompoc Public Library, Valley Haven, Lompoc Hospital, the Lompoc Flower Festival, YMCA, Cabrillo High School, Lompoc High School, Montessori and more.

They’ve stepped up for Lompoc Little League, AYSO, Babe Ruth, Lompoc Youth Football, Boys & Girls Club, and partnered with Lompoc Valley Association of Realtors’ “Shoes for Students” program for more than a decade, among other programs throughout the valley.

“One of the best, local, standout businesses is Surf Connection. Robin and David, the owners, are very active in the community,” said Ken Ostini, president and chief executive officer of Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Robin has served as head of the Chamber’s Lompoc Day Committee which, combined with the AmEx Shop Small Event, focuses on spreading the word about all locally owned businesses in the valley.

“Because of the community’s support, we’re still here 25 years later, so we give back to the community to the best of our ability. That’s really important to both of us,” Robin said.

Today, the blue cap Marshall bought Jana on their third date hangs on their wall, and they surf together with their sons, 12-year-old Canyon and 9-year-old August.

“I feel like we grew up with Surf Connection. It’s a sweet story. My husband’s adorable. I love him,” Jana said.

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Flavors of Mexico tempt palates at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop

Rose petal, corn, tequila, cream cheese ... ice cream that is Store-made ice vanilla and oreo cookie, and strawberry ice cream bars wait in a cooler at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop on West Main St. in Santa Maria.

Len Wood/Staff

Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

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orn, tequila, lime, cream cheese: these are not the flavors we typically associate with ice cream, but for Mexicans from the state of Michoacán, these are everyday treats.

Now, they’re available in Santa Maria thanks to father-son duo Jose and Jorge Chavez.

Since March 2014, they’ve imported the flavors of Mexico to their La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop, 1131 W. Main St., where they make ice cream and ice cream bars from scratch.

“Our ice cream is a lot different. We use ingredients directly from Mexico and we focus on quality and taste,” Jorge said.

Jose began making ice cream in Mexico City in 1982.

He opened the first ice cream shop in Chihuahua in 1996 before moving to the United States to be closer to his wife’s extended family.

For years, he split his years between the U.S. and Mexico, working strawberry fields here in season, then Jose Chavez, left, and his son Jorge Chavez show off freshly made lime ice cream at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop on West Main St. in Santa Maria.

Len Wood/Staff taking over the ice cream shop from his business partner in Mexico for the remainder of the year.

By 2008, Jose was ready to bring the business north, take a tumble. and entered into a partnership which, in 2014, “With the struggle with the economy, it was hard to dissolved, Jorge said. That opened the door for the run a new business, but people from Mexico recognize Chavez family just as the economy was beginning to the name,” Jorge said.

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While Michoacana is not a franchise, it is a common name among ice cream shops throughout Mexico.

“If you go to Mexico anywhere, you can find a Michoacana. The success of our store in the hard times is probably because of the memories from our customers.

Ninety-nine percent of them are Mexican, so the nostalgia the flavors bring back from the towns and cities they come from took us through that bad time,” Jorge said.

La Tradicional Michoacana employees make all the products from scratch. Fruit is processed in store, and the mixes are all made by hand. The ice cream bars are hand packed into their molds, one by one.

“In Santa Maria, you can find other ice cream shops, but we are really, really different,” Jorge said.

Sure, there’s chocolate, vanilla and

strawberry ice cream in the colorful shop, but Michoacana flavors also include rose petal, corn, tequila, lime, mango, and cream cheese.

There’s mamey, a creamy, soft, salmon-colored fruit native to Central America, and Mexican vanilla.

“The vanilla is a great example because the Mexican vanilla is different. It’s yellow. It tastes different from the American kind of vanilla,” Jorge said.

The Chavezes travel to a wholesale market in Los Angeles to pick up authentic Mexican flavors and fruit.

“We make mamey from fruit from Mexico. It also grows in Florida, but the fruits are subtly different,” Jorge said.

Hand-packed popsicles, called paletas, feature such flavors as mango with chili, cucumber with

Cheese is sprinkled on top of a gazpacho served at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop on West Main St. in Santa Maria.

Continued on page 20 Len Wood/Staff

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Above: Miriam Chavez, right, serves a customer a cup of ice cream at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop on West Main St. in Santa Maria. Left: Jorge Chavez scoops a blend of grape and cheese ice cream made at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop.

Len Wood/Staff

chili, pico de gallo, cantaloupe, cucumber and watermelon.

Word is getting out, in no small part thanks to the festive ice cream truck featured at Santa Maria’s Downtown Fridays. The truck has made the rounds to the Elks Rodeo and Los Alamos Days, the Domestic 20

| Shop Local | Lee Central Coast Newspapers

Workers Union Labor Day Picnic and Cottonwood Winery’s benefit for the Santa Maria Valley Humane Society.

That exposure has helped La Tradicional educate the palates of a variety of potential customers outside the Mexican base.

“We are very, very connected to our people. We really, really appreciate our people. We just want to expand to include other people different from Mexican to come try our product and probably like it,” Jorge said.

Their strategy is working. People from all walks express surprise and joy when they come across the flavors at local events.

“At Downtown Fridays, we have a lot of good comments from white people They say it’s creamy, it’s fresh, it’s different, it’s tasty,” Jorge said.

Once discovered at the truck, new customers unable to wait for their next ice cream truck experience are making their way to the store.

“Every year we are busier than the year before. It’s like a dream,” Jorge said.

Toy Zoo features educational toys, hobby items and more

Marc Canigiula shows off some of the items available at Toy Zoo & Anything Educational in Santa Maria, including radio-controlled cars, rockets and model cars.

Len Wood/Staff

Model selection one of the biggest between Ventura and San Jose But business did so well that Canigiula stuck with it, eventually opening a second store, Anything What began as a short-term business Educational, in Santa Maria. When he plan more than two decades ago turned did finally sell TW’s Paperclip, into a full-time gig for Marc Canigiula, Canigiula stuck with Anything the owner of Toy Zoo & Anything Educational, adding Toy Zoo to the title Educational at 1930 S. Broadway in to reflect additional products and focus.

Santa Maria.

In 2009, the store moved to its “It was supposed to be a temporary current location in the Orchard Supply thing, but it just kept clicking along,” he Hardware shopping center. said.

“It’s really enjoyable working with Canigiula, the son of a San Luis Obispo the general public. We’ve had a really teacher, purchased TW’s Paperclip in strong base of teachers and educators downtown San Luis Obispo in 1994. His and regulars that has made it the plan as a young businessman: clean up quintessential store where locals just the store, modernize it, boost business, come in to chat, besides shopping,” then sell it.

Canigiula said.

Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

Initially a school supply store, Toy Zoo & Anything Educational has shifted its focus to meet customers’ needs.

“Being able to stay viable and current, even with the competition from the internet, is about being a chameleon and constantly changing to meet customers’ needs,” Canigiula said.

Classroom supplies and books remain Toy Zoo staples, but educational toys and hobby items have taken over the front of the shop and pour out the front doors. Drones, remote-control cars, remote-control planes, military models and car models are among his top sellers.

Continued on page 22 Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

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Continued from page 21

“Santa Maria is a car-centered town.

There’s always a car show going on.

When you look around, everyone’s car is modified. You have the low riders, the fast-and-furious guys, bombers with the ‘50s rockabilly cars. The community is into cars, so we started carrying cars and, lo and behold, they sell really well,” Canigiula said.

The advent of the internet has been the biggest change since Canigiula entered the business world, but before that, he notes, there was always competition.

“There were other small retailers.

It’s one thing to say the internet is a scary, fierce competitor, but imagine having someone competing head to head in your community,” Canigiula said.

His first big potential stumbling block was the introduction of a school supply catalog more than a decade ago.

“One of our competitors came to town with a catalog the size of an L.A. phone book. It was dreadful to see that thing drop on the counter, but at the same time, we’ve always provided excellent customer service. We’ve listened to what our customers wanted. I’ve never run the store thinking I knew more than the customer,” Canigiula said.

Toy Zoo stocks a variety of items out of the boxes so customers and their children can try them firsthand. Three play tables are available at all times for toy testing, from brain teaser games to infant manipulatives.

Money spent at the local shop supports not only staff, but other businesses in the community.

Canigiula does all of his printing with Local Copies, his signs with SignCraft, eats locally and shops locally.

“If someone spends a dollar in our store, most of that dollar stays in our community,” he said.

Canigiula, his family and his employees are also active in the community. They have volunteered with Boys & Girls Club, Read Across America, donated to local schools, organizations and events like Cruisin’ 22

| Shop Local | Lee Central Coast Newspapers

Top photo: Kites for sale hang from the ceiling at Toy Zoo & Anything Educational in Santa Maria.

Above photo: The “SpinAgain” is a popular child’s toy at Toy Zoo & Anything Educational in Santa Maria.

for a Cure.

“When hobby people asked for oldschool models, we stocked them. It’s not something I came up with on my own. Now our model selection is probably the biggest between Ventura and San Jose,” Canigiula said.

Toy Zoo & Anything Educational hosts free community events which provide education and entertainment for families while also supporting local authors and entertainers. There are hands-on activities, crafts, games, readings and more.

“A lot of people don’t realize how

Len Wood/Staff

much they benefit from having local businesses here. Having a store gives local authors an outlet. It’s good for authors. It’s good for literacy. It’s a win-win across the board,” Canigiula said.

The special events available in the local retail shop have grown to serve an average of 100 people.

“Having those events is a pretty big deal. If you don’t have a store, you’re not going to have these kinds of events. By shopping locally, you’re keeping the economy running viably,” Canigiula said.

Old Town Quilt Shop:

classes, space for retreats, and yards of material The Old Town Quilt shop owner Michelle Strunka, left, works with her daughter Stacy Murray at the front counter. The store is a specialty shop that offers fabrics and sundries for quilters as well as a clubhouse that regularly hosts up to 20 quilters and their machines for classes and retreats.

Len Wood/Staff Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

O

n any day but Sunday, quilters gather behind the facade of Old Town Quilt Shop to talk fabric, colors, stitch and patterns. They gather in the clubhouse to create quilted crafts while swapping stories and sharing expertise.

“I’m always astounded by what people do. They’ll take pieces of fabric and use it in a way I haven’t thought of.

We can have a class working on the same pattern, but if you have 10 people in the class, you’ll have 10 different quilts,” said shop owner Michelle Strunka.

Strunka entered the quilting fray while still working at University of San Diego. Several members of her vanpool signed up for a class. Only Strunka carried it into a borderline obsession.

“I fell in love with it. It’s like an addiction. I love the colors of the fabric, and I feel like it satisfies an artistic part of me,” Strunka said.

After retiring from 33 years with UCSD, Strunka moved to the Santa Maria Valley where she discovered the quilt shop Maxine Campbell had established in 2005. Strunka began filling in now and again, became a business partner

Bolts of fabric line the shelves at the Old Town Quilt shop.

Len Wood/Staff

in 2014, then took over the business when Campbell retired earlier this year.

“I love doing it. I enjoy the customers. I especially love when they come back and show me something they’ve completed with our help. We’re so happy for them. It’s Continued on page 24 Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

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Continued from page 23

just satisfying to see someone enjoying something like that,” Strunka said.

Today, she works alongside her daughter, Stacy Murray.

Together, they have moved the store to a more modern fabric look.

“Modern quilting has become a big movement. I tend to like bright things, and polka dots are my favorite, so we have a lot of that,” Strunka said.

There isn’t enough room on the shop walls for samples, so many of those hang in the clubhouse where guilds meet, dessert clubs are held and classes reign supreme.

“It’s basically a fun place to come spend awhile,” Strunka said.

Dessert Club is a single-

A Hancock College student stitches together a quilt in the clubhouse at the Old Town Quilt shop in Old Orcutt.

Photos by Len Wood/Staff

evening event featuring, of course, dessert, but also projects that can be completed in the single, three- to four-hour session.

Past projects have included computer tablet cases, cell phone wallets, and project bags.

“The things you create don’t actually have to have a purpose. You can create just because it’s something you want to do. I’m sure there’s a

Hancock College students use the clubhouse at the Old Town Quilt shop for a quiltmaking class.

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lot of people who do paintings just for the sake of painting, and there aren’t enough walls for all of those.

They just feel the urge. They love the technique. They want to try doing something new. If you’re happy, that’s fine,” Strunka said.

Stepping into the quilt shop allows crafters the opportunity to stack fabrics for perfect color and pattern matches, and to take

advantage of employees’ years of experience.

“We’ll spend sometimes several hours with someone looking for that perfect border or helping match things they need,” Strunka said.

Old Town Quilt Shop also makes its clubhouse available for guilds and private retreats. The facility includes a kitchen area and space for 20 people to sew, tables, chairs, ironing boards, design walls and store access for all or parts of the projects.

“That’s become the biggest part of our business. People come from out of town to sew there,” Strunka said.

Old Town Quilt Shop will be open for Black Friday and celebrate Small Business Saturday. It will also offer gift certificates and discounts in the thick of the holiday season.

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Inside This Edition

FA L L 2 0 1 6

A publication of Lee Central Coast Newspapers Publisher Cynthia Schur publisher@leecentralcoastnews.com

Managing Editor Marga Cooley mcooley@leecentralcoastnews.com

Chambers celebrate small businesses with events, promotions

Shopping an interactive experience at Leisure Time Games

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 4

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8

Arrow Camera puts customer service, technology first

Woody’s Butcher Block puts money were the meat is — LOCAL BUSINESS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 10

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 13

Surf Connection equals community connection in Lompoc

Flavors of Mexico tempt palates at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 15

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 18

Toy Zoo features educational toys, hobby items and more

Old Town Quilt Shop: classes, space for retreats, and yards of material

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 21

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 23

Circulation Manager Guillermo Tamayo gtamayo@leecentralcoastnews.com

ADVERTISING SALES Claudia Delgado cdelgado@leecentralcoastnews.com

Danyelle Chavez dchavez@leecentralcoastnews.com

Ed Galanski gtamayo@leecentralcoastnews.com

Gaila Anderson ganderson@leecentralcoastnews.com

Katie Batterbee kabtterbee@leecentralcoastnews.com

Ricardo Epps repps@leecentralcoastnews.com

Sara Edwards sedwards@leecentralcoastnews.com

(805) 925-2691 3200 Skyway Drive Santa Maria, CA 93455

www.santamariatimes.com www.lompocrecord.com www.syvnews.com Reproduction of this publication in full or in part is not allowed unless written permission has been obtained from Lee Central Coast Newspapers.

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Chambers celebrating small businesses with events, promotions Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

C

hambers of Commerce throughout the region will celebrate Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26 with promotions intended to boost business to locally owned and operated shops and restaurants.

“Shopping locally provides economic vitality to the local community. I can buy my dog food online, or spend a little more to buy it in town. I want to do business with people I can see and shake hands with every day,” said Tracy Beard, executive director of Solvang Chamber of

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| Shop Local | Lee Central Coast Newspapers

Commerce.

According to the American Independent Business Alliance, independent retailers return to their community more than three times as much money per dollar of sales than chain competitors. Locally owned restaurants, the alliance reports, give twice as much back to their communities as chain eateries.

“When I’m shopping in my neighborhood, in my village community, I know the people I’m buying from. I know where the product comes from. I know when I shake their hand and hand them my money that they know I’m helping them out economically so they can buy

coffee locally, get their hair cut locally.

It means you’re dealing with your neighbors, your friends, helping the community grow in providing financial support right here at home,” Beard said.

Throughout the years, Chambers of Commerce have developed a variety of programs to help business owners interact with each other and the community at large. Upcoming events continue that tradition.

“We’re here to support business in our community. We do whatever we can to support them through different campaigns, advocacy with local government regarding businessContinued on page 6

Hours of Operation WEEKDAY...........5:30am to 7:00pm WEEKEND...........7:00am to 6:00 pm For more information, call 805-928-5624 or visit www.ridesmat.com

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ith the holiday season just around the corner, Santa Maria Transit invites you to get on the bus. SMAT offers easy routes to many of the favorite local shopping locations and you avoid the hassle of finding a parking space. If you’re looking to shop a little further from home, then the Breeze is for you. Make getting around this holiday season a breeze on the bus.

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Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

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campaigns to help highlight some of the city’s local businesses. The campaign will include video interviews with local businesses, feature articles on the Chamber News site, email blasts and the Chamber Connection printed newsletter.

issues that get mailed to more than related policies, and the fact you’re 850 local community members. networking with each other provides “Shopping online or at large outbusinesses another opportunity to of-town retailers can feel easier and get to know each other,” said Ken likely offers a wider range of choices.

Ostini, president and chief executive What it doesn’t do, though, is officer of Lompoc Valley Chamber of support our neighbors and the Commerce. broader Santa Maria The Santa Maria Chamber community,” Morris said. of Commerce is celebrating “Next time you’re at a youth small businesses on Nov. 26 sporting event, or with lots and lots of swag, community social/cultural among other things. program, take a look at the Chamber members will businesses who are receive bags, balloons, sponsoring the teams or — Ken Ostini stickers, pins, reminders, underwriting the posters, even floor mats, said performance. If those are Chamber CEO Glenn Morris. All have The Chamber is also offering stores that you frequent, then you are shop local messaging and encourage members opportunities to promote part of that support network. people to shop local – particularly on their businesses through “The next time your neighbor or a Small Business Saturday. advertisements and flyers, including family member talks about their job Additionally, the Chamber is a coupon flyer which will appear in at a local business, remember that partnering with its members on a the Chamber Connection print the revenue needed to pay their variety of print and social media newsletter’s October and November salary comes from locals like you and Continued from page 4

When we shop locally, the money recycles back into our community. It goes above and beyond just shopping local.”

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me patronizing the business,” he continued.

The Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce has partnered with American Express for Shop Small on Nov. 26. Small businesses that sign up for the event will be included in a published map which customers can pick up at participating businesses.

As shoppers visit businesses, they earn stamps which make them eligible to enter a drawing for prizes donated by those businesses.

“When we shop locally, the money recycles back into our community. It goes above and beyond just shopping local. Our local businesses give back to the community with donations to different events, be it products or money, and our businesses are active parts of the community because they are the community,” Ostini said.

Ask any local kid who has done some fundraising who is most likely to hand over a donation of cash, prizes or services, and she’s likely to

point to a locally owned store.

“Businesses get asked all the time for donations. You want to do business with people who do business with you. The more you shop with them, the more apt they are to donate to your cause,” said Kathy Vreeland, executive director of Buellton Chamber of Commerce.

While retail chains can and do take part in local communities to some extent, managers’ decisions typically are ruled by corporate policy.

“Sometimes, some of the corporate businesses tell us they can’t be involved in events, in the Chamber, because corporate dictates that,” Ostini said.

The advent of the internet has also been a challenge for locally owned and operated businesses, but Chambers remind shoppers that there are immediate rewards for taking the time to shop locally.

While many products are available online for door-to-door delivery, Chambers are quick to point out that

Visitors explore the booths at a recent Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce Business Expo.

local businesses provide customer service only possible through interpersonal interactions.

“There’s a lot of personal satisfaction from shopping locally.

You get to touch and feel the product and you get that face-to-face interaction, plus you provide jobs for our local economy members, sometimes even high school kids with their first jobs. It helps the sales tax in each city to maintain programs and functions of the city, too,” Vreeland said.

And while many goods are available online, most services cannot be provided remotely.

“You can’t get your coffee online.

You can’t get a fresh-baked pastry still warm from the oven online. You can’t get lunch online. When you go to your local bakery for coffee, you see that dedication to keeping the doors open for the community, where a franchise will close its doors in an instant if the profit margin isn’t there,” Beard said.

Contributed photo

Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

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Shopping an interactive experience at Leisure Time Games

Ken Guge, owner of Leisure Time Games at the Santa Maria Town Center Mall, supervises game night on a recent Friday at his store. Since 1999, Guge has run downtown Santa Maria’s only game store. In addition to selling games and comic books, his store provides space for regular game night gatherings as well as the annual gamers’ convention, CenCon. Len Wood/Staff

encourage math. We’re not button pushers. These games require thought. It’s not Monopoly,” Guge ames are meant to be played said. with others. They’re social, The store specializes in tabletop communal by nature. In Santa games for the cerebral set: “Settlers of Maria, shopping for them can be an Catan,” “Magic: The Gathering,” equally attractive, interactive “Warhammer 40,000,” “Dungeons & experience.

Dragons.” There are card games, comic Since 1999, Leisure Time Games books, manga and models. This the owner Ken Guge III has provided a safe Central Coast’s home of “Attack on haven for gamers with a penchant for Titan,” “Black Clover,” and “Onelogic, strategy and critical thinking.

Punch Man.” His shop, in Santa Maria Town Center “One thing that separates us from since 2004, provides space to discover the internet is game days. There’s no and test new games, and to meet way a store can compete on price, but regularly for gaming sessions with old the internet can’t provide the setting favorites. we do, with regular game nights that “We encourage reading. We are typically free, and three-day game Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

G

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events,” Guge said.

Leisure Time Games hosts game days several times each year, with the three-day CENCON gaming convention held each December for the past half dozen years.

They also provide local expertise with quick answers to customers’ questions. During the course of one interview, Guge stopped to address customers’ questions about Pokemon cards, poker dice, and play time on the store tables.

“The gaming world is a very nonjudgemental world. They don’t care that I’m a homeschool mom.

They won’t care if someone has purple hair and 20 earrings. They won’t care if someone’s a super uptight librarian

Game players compete at Leisure Time Games at the Santa Maria Town Center Mall on a recent Friday night.

with hair pulled back. If you play games, gamers will love you. It’s nice to go somewhere that your personal decisions, your life, aren’t judged. If you play games, you’re their people,” said Kimberly Terrill.

Terrill discovered Leisure Time Games a dozen years ago when her own children were small. They had moved to the Central Coast from Ohio, and had a tough time finding a local gaming community.

“In Ohio, lots of people play, probably because of the colder winters. But in California, people wanted to be outside all the time, it seemed. Finding gamers was a challenge,” said Terrill, who has since relocated back to Ohio.

They found their gaming home at Leisure Time Games.

“I love playing games, trying to figure the things out. There are a lot of

games you can change to play with your kids, no matter how old they are, or change just because you want to see how new rules will work out. You get to think about and work through all these ‘what-ifs,’” Terrill said.

The family became involved in the store’s gaming days, and ran tables at its first CENCON. “Ken was always very helpful. If we were looking for a particular game, if we wanted to demo a game, if we wanted to join in the game play at one of the little tables in the back,” Terrill said.

She became entranced by Looney Labs games, particularly FLUXX. “Ken let me set up a small, round table at the entrance of the store to demo some of the games. We got to play, introduced the game to other people, and it drew people to the store.

It worked for everyone,” Terrill said.

Len Wood/Staff

Specialty clothing related to games is offered at Leisure Time Games at the Santa Maria Town Center Mall.

Len Wood/Staff

For Guge, it’s all about fun and games and community.

“The internet can’t compete with community. We encourage you beyond just spending your money here. We want your presence here, to have a good time. By doing that, we give you a wider, broader spectrum than your little group of people. We encourage socializing,” Guge said.

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Arrow Camera puts customer service, technology first Staff members at Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center on E. Main St. in Santa Maria include James Manville, left, Kayla Sayer, business owner, Margrit Holmes and Marissa Flores.

Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

N

o successful business person can sit on her laurels and watch the world go by. They work to evolve their businesses as technology and customer needs

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Len Wood/Staff

and desires change. Perhaps in no industry is that more apparent than in the photo business, and at no time more so than this age of the internet.

Since 1959, Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center has provided the Central Coast with a variety of customer services, from its initial focus on photo processing to camera sales and service, and now to digital photo production.

“It’s been a challenging road. The photo industry changes so rapidly. You can’t sit in a chair and figure you have it all figured out. You have to be highly motivated. Every day, you have to learn something new,” said Margrit Holmes.

Holmes has owned the business since 2011, but Arrow’s history extends back to 1943 when now-renowned photographer Wynn Bullock opened a commercial photo lab at 120 Church Street.

“We have quite a track record,” Holmes said.

Hank Datter purchased the business from Bullock in 1952, then moved Arrow to the old Santa Maria Times building, 207 W. Main St., where a retail store took over the front while photo processing dominated the back.

Kayla Sayer tones photos on a work station that allows the customer to see the photos at the same time at Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center on E. Main St. in Santa Maria.

By the 1950s, business was booming, and Datter expanded and added color photo processing by adding a facility in Orcutt in the old church across the road from Jack’s Restaurant. Larger facilities and a growing staff meant Arrow was able to provide film processing for camera stores and drug stores up and down the Central Coast.

In 1983, Arrow opened its first one-hour photoprocessing lab at Target Shopping Center, with additional quick labs added at Acorn Plaza in Orcutt and in Atascadero shortly thereafter, Holmes said.

Then came the digital age.

By 1994, with home printers and digital cameras coming onboard, it was time for a metamorphosis. The one-hour locations were closed, and Arrow moved to East Main Street where a drive-up window provided customers quick access.

In the midst of it all came Holmes, who worked for Datter for 30 years before taking over the business following his death, at the age of 98, in 2011.

“Hank really put his heart and soul into the company. I was very dedicated to him, and I couldn’t see closing the company. It’s been on the Central Coast for too long,” Holmes said.

The customer base also was too strong, and too deep, to let go, though the advent of the internet brought about fewer and fewer local sales.

“As technology changed and the focus of everything changed, businesses that used to make a go of it couldn’t do Continued on page 12

Len Wood/Staff

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Give yourself a gift of health, happiness and friendship with a membership to the Center

Guest speakers, outings, and fellowship are added bonuses!

1745 Mission Dr.,Solvang, Ca. 93463 • (805) 688-3793 Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

11

services including photo restoration, slide scanning and it anymore,” said Steve Lewis, retired Hancock College image digitization, video editing, video transfers, and photo instructor. “With the advent of online ordering, you slideshow production for special events. There’s a photo can find the best price and have just about anything you studio, and photographers on staff are available for want delivered within two days. A store has to sell everything from executive portraits to family photos. customer service. That’s something that’s lost on a lot of “We encourage customers to bring shoeboxes of photos people now.” and slides. We provide fast turnaround times at high Holmes took it a step further. quality and reasonably low prices. We’re a small business.

“I knew the only way I could survive in this business was We have to do what mass producers cannot, which is to eliminate the camera store and take the company back to provide customer service and high-quality,” Holmes said. its core: developing and printing film,” Holmes said.

Today, Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center provides both old-school film processing and modern digital processing, canvas prints, printing on metal and large prints up to 64 inches wide. Digital workstations also allow customers to bring in everything from digital cameras to thumb drives, even camera phones, where customers can download, manipulate and edit images prior to printing.

Color and black-and-white photo paper and film remain available, largely for Hancock College photography students who still learn the traditional photo skills.

“More young people are shooting film. It’s the new, hip thing,” Holmes said.

Arrow staff members can also provide a variety of

Continued from page 11

Looking for something to do the Weekend After Thanksgiving?

Santa Rita Hills Wine Center

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Top photo: Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center owner Margrit Holmes, center, talks with employee James Manville as he color corrects an image. Photo above: Marissa Flores checks prints made from film at Arrow Camera Digital Photo & Imaging Center on E. Main St. in Santa Maria.

Len Wood/Staff

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Woody’s Butcher Block puts money were the meat is

— LOCAL BUSINESS

Tim “Woody” Woodbury owns Woody’s Butcher Block at 700 E. Main St. in Santa Maria. Since November 2012, Tim has served as Santa Maria Valley’s only dedicated butcher shop carrying prime meats, seafood, poultry and pork. Spices are created in store, as are a variety of sausages.

Len Wood/Staff

history,” Tim said.

By 1997, he’d drawn up plans for a butcher shop of his own, but he had here were times in Darlene and bigger fish to fry.

Tim Woodbury’s lives when “I had a great career going, so I just put they’d give just about anything for it in a binder and put it on a bookcase in a good cut of meat. my office,” Tim recalled.

In 2012, they did.

But dreams have a way of niggling, and Tim left his long-time, stable job, and by 2012, it was time to move on. together they opened Woody’s Butcher “One Tuesday, I was done. I called my Block, 700 E. Main St., and never looked wife. I was almost in tears. I said, ‘I just back. don’t want to do this anymore.’ It was When the Woodburys moved to Santa years of the pressure of being a Maria in 1987, Tim was an outside sales 100-percent commission salesman in a rep providing some 10,000 high-quality what-have-you-done-for-me-lately products to restaurants. But the family career. It was a good job, a great career. It couldn’t find sources for such great food bought me a house, paid for the kids’ available to everyday shoppers. college, but everyone’s familiar with “We lamented that there wasn’t a great Willie Loman, ‘Death of a Salesman.’ I butcher shop here,” Tim recalled. was done,” Tim said.

Williams Bros. initially served as their After 28 years in the food industry, he butcher of choice. walked away.

“But they sold to Vons, and the rest is “My wife was concerned about me.

Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

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There were lots of days she’d say, ‘You don’t look good.’ So I quit. I rode the recliner, had a lot of cigars, martinis, played golf,” Tim said.

He considered retiring altogether, felt the pressure dissipate, put together a new resume and started applying for jobs.

Darlene set him straight, and encouraged him to look for another line of work rather than re-enter the field that had driven him to the edge of his sanity. Their son reminded them of that binder, sitting on the shelf, full of butcher shop plans. While away visiting family, Darlene texted Tim: “The butcher shop idea? Go for it,” Tim recalled.

“The butcher shop stuck, grew legs.

The grandkids started talking about being able to work there. One thing led to another,” Tim said.

They started small, with a very Continued on page 14 Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

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Marissa Martinez makes a chicken chipotle sandwich at Woody’s Butcher Block.

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Len Wood/Staff

specialized menu of select items.

“Being in the restaurant business for so long, I saw what I thought were all the mistakes. Most people don’t make it more than a year, let alone two years or more. They were trying to be all things to all people from the get go. You just can’t do that,” Tim said.

Instead, Woody’s started with a narrow line of meat, poultry and pork with some cheeses selected for good measure.

Today, a granddaughter does, indeed, staff the counter.

Here, specialty sandwiches run the gamut from Italian Stallion with its shaved ham, mortadella, capicola, salami & prosciutto topped with Provolone cheese, onion, hot peppers and more to the Caprese Sandwich featuring tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella.

The meat counter includes beef, pork, fish, duck, quail, Cornish game hens, lamb and free-range chickens. There are house-made sausages, and rubs and spice mixes. Fresh fish is flown in Fridays through Sundays from Scotland and Alaska.

Woody’s sells the only steelhead trout that has the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch seal of approval.

“What we sell here is what you’d get in white-tablecloth restaurants. There are no commodity meats here. It’s all very special, very unique,” Tim said.

Best sellers include the Delmonico ribeye, a sort of primerib lollipop weighing in at an average of two pounds. There’s the beef-and-bacon burger blend composed of 75 percent steak, and 25 percent applewood smoked bacon. Filet mignon and hanging tenders round out the top four.

“The hanging tender is my favorite. It’s so versatile. So good just by itself, or your can add a little salt and pepper, or marinate it, or make kebobs. I’ve never had a bad one,” Tim said.

The five types of jerky and all the sausages sold here are made here, with the exception of linguica which they’ve also sourced locally. There are five types of seasonings made in-store, including a no-salt, all-purpose blend.

The cheese board features products from Central Coast Creamery out of Paso Robles, and the counter includes goods from Edna’s Bakery in San Luis Obispo.

Woody’s is the only local outlet for a local blend of coffee, Cafe San Drogo, sold to benefit Saint Joseph’s Supported Living Services’ Santa Maria Explorer’s Club.

“We do as much business locally as we can because, well, we want people to do business with us,” Tim said.

He uses the services of other shops in the plaza at 700 E. Main Street: Arrow Photo provides any camera work they need and all of Woody’s printing needs; Santa Maria Vacuum provides for certain cleaning needs.

“It’s a little more money, but I’d rather support local. Their businesses are like ours. We’re myself and five employees. My wife does the books. We’ve been in this town for 30 years now.

We live here. We started a business here. So we are them. We get it,” Tim said.

Surf Connection equals community connection in Lompoc

Robin Dunaetz, co-owner of Surf Connection in Lompoc, shows off some of the skateboards the shop offers with employee Jorge Perez.

He wasted no time, and that evening in 1994, they joined each other for a jaunt to Jalama Beach where Jana ran or Jana and Marshal Wilcox, onshore while Marshall took to the Lompoc’s Surf Connection is water. more than a surf shop. It’s home, They’ve been together ever since. family, and, for them, their love “Robin and David are like family to connection. us. They have big hearts. They’re good Jana was 17 when she saw Marshall people who do so much for the working in the shop, owned by Robin community and the store. They have a and David Dunaetz. commitment to excellence,” Jana said.

“I was super shy at the time. I went The shop at 1307 North H Street in a couple of times, then I put a hat on offers a full range of surf and skate hold and left my name and number, goods, from boards to fashion. implying I wasn’t actually putting the Consignment boards are also available hat on hold, but wanted Marshall to in the shop adorned with its own call me,” Jana said. vintage board collection dating back to Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

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Len Wood/Staff

the 1960s.

Since taking over the business in 1991, the Dunaetzes have embodied all that local store owners can be. In addition to providing sales and service to local surfers and skateboarders, they have partnered in myriad programs supporting the community at large.

“When you shop locally, particularly from a small business, you’re supporting your community. Those businesses give back a larger percentage of what they take in,” Robin said.

Surf Connection has all its printing done locally. It has also supported Continued on page 16 Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

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Robin Dunaetz, co-owner of Surf Connection in Lompoc, adjusts clothes at the store.

Continued from page 15

other local businesses by carrying their products, such as candles from Mooseberry Mountain, artwork, jewelry and gift items from Angie Hamlin, photography by Above the Reef and Thirdeye Dave, and buttons and magnets from Hummingbird Stationery. There are sugar scrubs, body butter and lip balm from Sweet Bliss Sugar Scrubs and Lompoc branded T-shirts provided by SMS Designs.

“That money spent in our store continues to recycle in our community, so the economic impact is much greater, and your taxes stay in our community,” Robin said.

In 2009, Surf Connection was recognized by Lompoc Parks and Recreation with the Lompoc Community Service Award.

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Len Wood/Staff

Surf Connection joined the Youth Commission to bring Lompoc its first skate park in 2000 after two years of planning, fundraising and community education. The store supports a variety of civic organizations as well, including Lompoc Public Library, Valley Haven, Lompoc Hospital, the Lompoc Flower Festival, YMCA, Cabrillo High School, Lompoc High School, Montessori and more.

They’ve stepped up for Lompoc Little League, AYSO, Babe Ruth, Lompoc Youth Football, Boys & Girls Club, and partnered with Lompoc Valley Association of Realtors’ “Shoes for Students” program for more than a decade, among other programs throughout the valley.

“One of the best, local, standout businesses is Surf Connection. Robin and David, the owners, are very active in the community,” said Ken Ostini, president and chief executive officer of Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Robin has served as head of the Chamber’s Lompoc Day Committee which, combined with the AmEx Shop Small Event, focuses on spreading the word about all locally owned businesses in the valley.

“Because of the community’s support, we’re still here 25 years later, so we give back to the community to the best of our ability. That’s really important to both of us,” Robin said.

Today, the blue cap Marshall bought Jana on their third date hangs on their wall, and they surf together with their sons, 12-year-old Canyon and 9-year-old August.

“I feel like we grew up with Surf Connection. It’s a sweet story. My husband’s adorable. I love him,” Jana said.

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Flavors of Mexico tempt palates at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop

Rose petal, corn, tequila, cream cheese ... ice cream that is Store-made ice vanilla and oreo cookie, and strawberry ice cream bars wait in a cooler at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop on West Main St. in Santa Maria.

Len Wood/Staff

Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

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orn, tequila, lime, cream cheese: these are not the flavors we typically associate with ice cream, but for Mexicans from the state of Michoacán, these are everyday treats.

Now, they’re available in Santa Maria thanks to father-son duo Jose and Jorge Chavez.

Since March 2014, they’ve imported the flavors of Mexico to their La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop, 1131 W. Main St., where they make ice cream and ice cream bars from scratch.

“Our ice cream is a lot different. We use ingredients directly from Mexico and we focus on quality and taste,” Jorge said.

Jose began making ice cream in Mexico City in 1982.

He opened the first ice cream shop in Chihuahua in 1996 before moving to the United States to be closer to his wife’s extended family.

For years, he split his years between the U.S. and Mexico, working strawberry fields here in season, then Jose Chavez, left, and his son Jorge Chavez show off freshly made lime ice cream at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop on West Main St. in Santa Maria.

Len Wood/Staff taking over the ice cream shop from his business partner in Mexico for the remainder of the year.

By 2008, Jose was ready to bring the business north, take a tumble. and entered into a partnership which, in 2014, “With the struggle with the economy, it was hard to dissolved, Jorge said. That opened the door for the run a new business, but people from Mexico recognize Chavez family just as the economy was beginning to the name,” Jorge said.

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While Michoacana is not a franchise, it is a common name among ice cream shops throughout Mexico.

“If you go to Mexico anywhere, you can find a Michoacana. The success of our store in the hard times is probably because of the memories from our customers.

Ninety-nine percent of them are Mexican, so the nostalgia the flavors bring back from the towns and cities they come from took us through that bad time,” Jorge said.

La Tradicional Michoacana employees make all the products from scratch. Fruit is processed in store, and the mixes are all made by hand. The ice cream bars are hand packed into their molds, one by one.

“In Santa Maria, you can find other ice cream shops, but we are really, really different,” Jorge said.

Sure, there’s chocolate, vanilla and

strawberry ice cream in the colorful shop, but Michoacana flavors also include rose petal, corn, tequila, lime, mango, and cream cheese.

There’s mamey, a creamy, soft, salmon-colored fruit native to Central America, and Mexican vanilla.

“The vanilla is a great example because the Mexican vanilla is different. It’s yellow. It tastes different from the American kind of vanilla,” Jorge said.

The Chavezes travel to a wholesale market in Los Angeles to pick up authentic Mexican flavors and fruit.

“We make mamey from fruit from Mexico. It also grows in Florida, but the fruits are subtly different,” Jorge said.

Hand-packed popsicles, called paletas, feature such flavors as mango with chili, cucumber with

Cheese is sprinkled on top of a gazpacho served at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop on West Main St. in Santa Maria.

Continued on page 20 Len Wood/Staff

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Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

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Above: Miriam Chavez, right, serves a customer a cup of ice cream at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop on West Main St. in Santa Maria. Left: Jorge Chavez scoops a blend of grape and cheese ice cream made at La Tradicional Michoacana Ice Cream Shop.

Len Wood/Staff

chili, pico de gallo, cantaloupe, cucumber and watermelon.

Word is getting out, in no small part thanks to the festive ice cream truck featured at Santa Maria’s Downtown Fridays. The truck has made the rounds to the Elks Rodeo and Los Alamos Days, the Domestic 20

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Workers Union Labor Day Picnic and Cottonwood Winery’s benefit for the Santa Maria Valley Humane Society.

That exposure has helped La Tradicional educate the palates of a variety of potential customers outside the Mexican base.

“We are very, very connected to our people. We really, really appreciate our people. We just want to expand to include other people different from Mexican to come try our product and probably like it,” Jorge said.

Their strategy is working. People from all walks express surprise and joy when they come across the flavors at local events.

“At Downtown Fridays, we have a lot of good comments from white people They say it’s creamy, it’s fresh, it’s different, it’s tasty,” Jorge said.

Once discovered at the truck, new customers unable to wait for their next ice cream truck experience are making their way to the store.

“Every year we are busier than the year before. It’s like a dream,” Jorge said.

Toy Zoo features educational toys, hobby items and more

Marc Canigiula shows off some of the items available at Toy Zoo & Anything Educational in Santa Maria, including radio-controlled cars, rockets and model cars.

Len Wood/Staff

Model selection one of the biggest between Ventura and San Jose But business did so well that Canigiula stuck with it, eventually opening a second store, Anything What began as a short-term business Educational, in Santa Maria. When he plan more than two decades ago turned did finally sell TW’s Paperclip, into a full-time gig for Marc Canigiula, Canigiula stuck with Anything the owner of Toy Zoo & Anything Educational, adding Toy Zoo to the title Educational at 1930 S. Broadway in to reflect additional products and focus.

Santa Maria.

In 2009, the store moved to its “It was supposed to be a temporary current location in the Orchard Supply thing, but it just kept clicking along,” he Hardware shopping center. said.

“It’s really enjoyable working with Canigiula, the son of a San Luis Obispo the general public. We’ve had a really teacher, purchased TW’s Paperclip in strong base of teachers and educators downtown San Luis Obispo in 1994. His and regulars that has made it the plan as a young businessman: clean up quintessential store where locals just the store, modernize it, boost business, come in to chat, besides shopping,” then sell it.

Canigiula said.

Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

Initially a school supply store, Toy Zoo & Anything Educational has shifted its focus to meet customers’ needs.

“Being able to stay viable and current, even with the competition from the internet, is about being a chameleon and constantly changing to meet customers’ needs,” Canigiula said.

Classroom supplies and books remain Toy Zoo staples, but educational toys and hobby items have taken over the front of the shop and pour out the front doors. Drones, remote-control cars, remote-control planes, military models and car models are among his top sellers.

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“Santa Maria is a car-centered town.

There’s always a car show going on.

When you look around, everyone’s car is modified. You have the low riders, the fast-and-furious guys, bombers with the ‘50s rockabilly cars. The community is into cars, so we started carrying cars and, lo and behold, they sell really well,” Canigiula said.

The advent of the internet has been the biggest change since Canigiula entered the business world, but before that, he notes, there was always competition.

“There were other small retailers.

It’s one thing to say the internet is a scary, fierce competitor, but imagine having someone competing head to head in your community,” Canigiula said.

His first big potential stumbling block was the introduction of a school supply catalog more than a decade ago.

“One of our competitors came to town with a catalog the size of an L.A. phone book. It was dreadful to see that thing drop on the counter, but at the same time, we’ve always provided excellent customer service. We’ve listened to what our customers wanted. I’ve never run the store thinking I knew more than the customer,” Canigiula said.

Toy Zoo stocks a variety of items out of the boxes so customers and their children can try them firsthand. Three play tables are available at all times for toy testing, from brain teaser games to infant manipulatives.

Money spent at the local shop supports not only staff, but other businesses in the community.

Canigiula does all of his printing with Local Copies, his signs with SignCraft, eats locally and shops locally.

“If someone spends a dollar in our store, most of that dollar stays in our community,” he said.

Canigiula, his family and his employees are also active in the community. They have volunteered with Boys & Girls Club, Read Across America, donated to local schools, organizations and events like Cruisin’ 22

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Top photo: Kites for sale hang from the ceiling at Toy Zoo & Anything Educational in Santa Maria.

Above photo: The “SpinAgain” is a popular child’s toy at Toy Zoo & Anything Educational in Santa Maria.

for a Cure.

“When hobby people asked for oldschool models, we stocked them. It’s not something I came up with on my own. Now our model selection is probably the biggest between Ventura and San Jose,” Canigiula said.

Toy Zoo & Anything Educational hosts free community events which provide education and entertainment for families while also supporting local authors and entertainers. There are hands-on activities, crafts, games, readings and more.

“A lot of people don’t realize how

Len Wood/Staff

much they benefit from having local businesses here. Having a store gives local authors an outlet. It’s good for authors. It’s good for literacy. It’s a win-win across the board,” Canigiula said.

The special events available in the local retail shop have grown to serve an average of 100 people.

“Having those events is a pretty big deal. If you don’t have a store, you’re not going to have these kinds of events. By shopping locally, you’re keeping the economy running viably,” Canigiula said.

Old Town Quilt Shop:

classes, space for retreats, and yards of material The Old Town Quilt shop owner Michelle Strunka, left, works with her daughter Stacy Murray at the front counter. The store is a specialty shop that offers fabrics and sundries for quilters as well as a clubhouse that regularly hosts up to 20 quilters and their machines for classes and retreats.

Len Wood/Staff Jennifer Best Contributing Writer

O

n any day but Sunday, quilters gather behind the facade of Old Town Quilt Shop to talk fabric, colors, stitch and patterns. They gather in the clubhouse to create quilted crafts while swapping stories and sharing expertise.

“I’m always astounded by what people do. They’ll take pieces of fabric and use it in a way I haven’t thought of.

We can have a class working on the same pattern, but if you have 10 people in the class, you’ll have 10 different quilts,” said shop owner Michelle Strunka.

Strunka entered the quilting fray while still working at University of San Diego. Several members of her vanpool signed up for a class. Only Strunka carried it into a borderline obsession.

“I fell in love with it. It’s like an addiction. I love the colors of the fabric, and I feel like it satisfies an artistic part of me,” Strunka said.

After retiring from 33 years with UCSD, Strunka moved to the Santa Maria Valley where she discovered the quilt shop Maxine Campbell had established in 2005. Strunka began filling in now and again, became a business partner

Bolts of fabric line the shelves at the Old Town Quilt shop.

Len Wood/Staff

in 2014, then took over the business when Campbell retired earlier this year.

“I love doing it. I enjoy the customers. I especially love when they come back and show me something they’ve completed with our help. We’re so happy for them. It’s Continued on page 24 Lee Central Coast Newspapers | Shop Local |

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just satisfying to see someone enjoying something like that,” Strunka said.

Today, she works alongside her daughter, Stacy Murray.

Together, they have moved the store to a more modern fabric look.

“Modern quilting has become a big movement. I tend to like bright things, and polka dots are my favorite, so we have a lot of that,” Strunka said.

There isn’t enough room on the shop walls for samples, so many of those hang in the clubhouse where guilds meet, dessert clubs are held and classes reign supreme.

“It’s basically a fun place to come spend awhile,” Strunka said.

Dessert Club is a single-

A Hancock College student stitches together a quilt in the clubhouse at the Old Town Quilt shop in Old Orcutt.

Photos by Len Wood/Staff

evening event featuring, of course, dessert, but also projects that can be completed in the single, three- to four-hour session.

Past projects have included computer tablet cases, cell phone wallets, and project bags.

“The things you create don’t actually have to have a purpose. You can create just because it’s something you want to do. I’m sure there’s a

Hancock College students use the clubhouse at the Old Town Quilt shop for a quiltmaking class.

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lot of people who do paintings just for the sake of painting, and there aren’t enough walls for all of those.

They just feel the urge. They love the technique. They want to try doing something new. If you’re happy, that’s fine,” Strunka said.

Stepping into the quilt shop allows crafters the opportunity to stack fabrics for perfect color and pattern matches, and to take

advantage of employees’ years of experience.

“We’ll spend sometimes several hours with someone looking for that perfect border or helping match things they need,” Strunka said.

Old Town Quilt Shop also makes its clubhouse available for guilds and private retreats. The facility includes a kitchen area and space for 20 people to sew, tables, chairs, ironing boards, design walls and store access for all or parts of the projects.

“That’s become the biggest part of our business. People come from out of town to sew there,” Strunka said.

Old Town Quilt Shop will be open for Black Friday and celebrate Small Business Saturday. It will also offer gift certificates and discounts in the thick of the holiday season.