First brand-specific tasting room to open in downtown SLO
In a move likely to greatly improve San Luis Obispo’s image as the center of a major wine area, local Shadow Canyon Cellars winery will open a tasting room at 956 Monterey (the old Blade Runner location.) This is the first wine tasting room in downtown SLO to feature one brand and have winery personnel on hand to discuss the wines. It will be a complement to the existing co-op-owned TASTE that features many wine brands. Downtown tasting rooms are considered an essential way to create a “wine ambiance” so critical to today’s upscale high-dollar tourism. The new facility is scheduled to open April 11.
More downtown business changes and seismic moves
Central Coast Surfboards is getting ready for their early summer opening in the former Laws Hobby Center location in the Masonic Temple Building on Marsh Street. CCS will have about the same size store but on two levels. The rumor mill is abuzz with speculation on who will lease their old Higuera St. location after the building’s seismic retrofit is complete sometime next year. Meanwhile, Bistro Le Fandango has become Buffalo Pub and Grill serving, you guessed it, buffalo meat and other Wild West delicacies. Seismic retrofitting is also the reason Kevin and Kathi Main have moved their jewelry store temporarily to 850 Higuera. When the retrofit of the Main’s building at 720 Higuera is complete, the store will move back to their original location but with a store twice the size of the original.
Decision day next Tuesday on county tourism BID
The controversial Visitors and Conference Bureau’s tourism business improvement district proposal will be heard Tuesday morning by the County Board of Supervisors. The VCB proposal has been around for three-plus years but has never gained enough support to move forward in the county or in the major tourism cities of Paso Robles, Pismo Beach or SLO. Meanwhile, a proposal by city hotels and motels for a SLO city BID is expected to be approved at the city council at their April 15th meeting.
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