Looking for a last-minute Central Coast gift? SLOcally Made market is back for holidays
If you’re still looking for the perfect present for that special someone, here’s one location where you can find unique Central Coast gifts — but only through Christmas Eve.
SLOcally Made, now in its sixth year of operation, has again opened in downtown San Luis Obispo for the holiday season.
The annual pop-up shop features a range of handmade and artisan goods from makers around the Central Coast. That includes candles, scarves, bags, jewelry and art prints.
The market is the brainchild of Sadie Rogers and Kerry Long, who in 2017 got the opportunity to set up shop in a vacant space downtown for the holidays.
“We totally thought it was going to be a one-time thing,” Rogers told The Tribune. “It was kind of last-minute and thrown together, but so well-received by the community. ... We had no idea that it was going to grow into what it is.”
Six years later, SLOcally Made is now open through the holiday season in San Luis Obispo’s Downtown Centre shopping center,
This year, SLOCally Made features items from even more vendors than before, growing from 42 vendors in 2021 to 52 in 2022.
The shop is also slated to be open longer than in previous years, with three full weeks of operation ending on Christmas Eve.
“It’s really amazing,” Rogers said. “We just did that to basically provide more opportunities for makers and also more diversity in our product offerings.”
Rogers said the annual market isn’t only a resource for the maker community — a place where they can share their goods with shoppers in a prime location — but also a one-stop shop for locals who want to support Central Coast artisans.
“We’re excited to be able to expand the amount of makers because that helps the maker community and it also helps the SLO community by providing more of this stuff,” she said. “It’s definitely the fullest store we’ve ever had. Like, there’s just so much stuff and it’s so kind of mind-blowing actually how talented people are on the Central Coast.”
Some of Rogers’ favorite items at this year’s market are Kelley Wilson’s Adirondack pack baskets, quilted leather bags from Hide, Stitch and Hook and rescue animal paintings from Woollybear Travels.
Other popular items include jewelry from Surf Gems, which uses resin leftover from surfboard shaping to create one-of-a-kind pieces, and naturally dyed goods from Couleur de la Vie, she said.
“That’s another thing that we tried to do through SLOcally Made is really curate goods that are of value and quality,” Rogers said. “People who are really honing their craft and trying to put quality heirloom goods out into the world — things that have a lot of thought and meaning to them. So it’s pretty amazing.”
This year, Rogers said, she’s selling her own beeswax candles, which are made from wax from The California Bee Company in San Luis Obispo. The store also sells honey from the California Bee Company.
“A kind of honey/candle combo all from the same bees is a sweet gift idea,” she said.
SLOCally Made has been very well-received by the community in recent years, with some asking Rogers and Long if they would consider opening a more permanent location in the future.
Rogers said that’s not in the cards for now. She and Long just want to focus on doing what they love: making things.
“We’re makers and creators throughout the year,” she explained. “That’s what we’re doing, is making our goods that we sell during the holidays.”
SLOCally Made is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily at 881 Higuera St. in San Luis Obispo through Dec. 24. For more information, visit slocally-made.com.
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