"We need help," Marlene Bucy said. With Hanukkah midway through and Christmas less than two weeks away, what should be a bustling stationer's shop is way too quiet. "We'd normally be full and busy, gift wrapping and helping people," she said. "I invested about $35,000 just for product for December." Bucy's Folio Press & Paperie is part of The Hub on Motor Way, home to legendary Santa Barbara outposts like the Roasting Company next door and Lilly's Tacos around the corner. Everyone's feeling the pain from the Thomas Fire, with Santa Barbarans staying indoors and tourists going elsewhere.
A few doors down, at the Elizabeth Gordon Gallery , a note posted on the door indicates it'll reopen on Friday and then comments, "Jeez this sucks!" Further down Gutierrez Street, D'Angelo's Bakery was only selling bread and coffee by around noon. "We've been closing early because it's been so slow," Manny Garcia explained. "We open for breakfast at 7 a.m., and we're expecting the big Christmas weekend rush, but we're taking it one day at a time."
The scent of chocolate is as heady as ever inside Chocolate Maya , but the store is empty. Maya Schoop-Rutten said the slowdown in trade is "dramatic and very, very scary." She has online customers, which helps, but the people who normally walk in are absent. Her worry extends to other small business owners. "We've been going out to eat to help the restaurants. Even Brophy Brothers isn't as busy as usual. All the Christmas parties have been cancelled." Schoop-Rutten held out a ray of hope: "Valentine's Day is a light in the tunnel for us."