"The more businesses down here, the more stuff there is to see and the more places there are to go into," says Naren Porter-Kasbati, owner of Lighthouse Skate Shop in downtown Santa Barbara.
Four months ago, Porter-Kasbati says he moved his store into 907 State Street.
"So when we first moved in, we were looking at a few spots on the block and there was four spots available. As soon as we started renting, the next three spots down from us all got rented," Kasbati explains.
According to the City of Santa Barbara, vacancy rates between the 400-1300 blocks of State Street were around 13% last year, a decrease from 18% in 2020. But soon, there will be one more store going out of business.
"People come in just to take pictures. That's how much they love this store," says Annette Rodriguez, owner of Cookie Plug.
Rodriguez says that 14 months ago, she moved her cookie business into 918 State Street, subleasing from Metropolitan Theater Company.
"It took us over $100,000 to get this building up to the city's requirements to open," Rodriguez says.
But in September 2024, Metropolitan did not extend its master lease with the city, which owns the building, thus terminating Cookie Plug’s six-year sublease, according to Rodriguez.
The city says it has had a license agreement with Cookie Plug since October, but after several extensions, the city decided not to offer a long-term lease based on business and financial decisions.
"That's a sad loss to me and the community, the downtown that's already struggling. Most storefronts here are empty," Rodriguez says.
The city says that since 2017, vacancy rates on State Street have exceeded 10%, but most of the buildings on State Street are not city-owned.
Q4 reports by Hayes for State Street business vacancies each year:
- 2024: 12.9%
- 2023: 13.7%
- 2022: 13.7%
- 2021: 14.3%
- 2020: 18.0%
Cookie Plug’s final day of business is this Thursday, April 24.
