Hold that obituary! Downtown San Luis Obispo ain’t dead yet | Opinion
If downtown San Luis Obispo could talk, it would echo Mark Twain’s famous quote — “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
He used that line to dispel fake news about his untimely demise, though in SLO’s case, the “death notice” consists of just one recent, semi-brutal article that hit some locals like a gut punch.
The piece in SFGate, an online news site based in San Francisco, painted a bleak picture of a downtown “littered with empty storefronts marked by darkened windows and for lease signs.”
It was headlined, “’Heartbreaking’: Once thriving Calif. downtown is on the brink.”
Exactly what SLO is on the “brink” of was never clearly identified. Bankruptcy? Irrelevance? Skid rowdom?
Apparently, all it takes are some “going out of business signs” and empty buildings to forever doom a downtown.
SLO is not alone
Look, we aren’t blind. It’s obvious that there are several vacant buildings downtown, including some that have been empty for years.
Charles Shoes. The original Giuseppe’s. The second-floor restaurant space on Monterey Street, originally occupied by Thomas Hill Organics. Ross Dress for Less, though that space has been leased by Thrifty Beaches.
But show me a downtown in California that doesn’t have vacancies.
Union Square in San Francisco, for example, had a whopping 23% vacancy rate at the end of the second quarter of 2025.
‘No joy in sharing’
Yet the bleak assessment of downtown SLO’s future has locals freaking out.
“This gives me no joy in sharing,” radio talk show host Dave Congalton posted on Facebook. “The saddest part of this whole article is that we have San Francisco saying how bad things are in San Luis Obispo. San Francisco. Let that sink in.”
Except, San Francisco wasn’t saying anything.
This “SLO on the brink” narrative came from one dude, backed up by dozens of Downtown Haters who took to social media to pile on and point fingers.
Their complaints (and to be fair, some are valid) focused on parking (the price, the lack of spaces and the inconvenience of the new metering system); greedy landlords who charge way too much rent, forcing out mom-and-pops; new bike lanes that make it harder to maneuver downtown; and cracked, uneven sidewalks that pose a danger to pedestrians. In addition to landlords, critics took aim at uncaring city officials, cyclists who “forced” the city to install those weird bike lanes that nobody uses and, oh yeah, Democrats who know nothing about running a city.
Interestingly, no one said much about the business owners, though their decisions have a lot to do with whether a store or a restaurant thrives or flames out.
Because it’s just too easy to scapegoat the city. And Democrats.
New shops in town
Sure, it’s frustrating to see stores sit empty for years, when those spaces could be put to good use.
On the other hand, new businesses are moving in — an indication that businesses continue to see potential here.
Brandy Melville, an apparel chain catering to teens and young women, opened a few months ago, in the space vacated by lululemon, which moved into a larger building on Higuera Street. A new Japanese restaurant, Nomo Domo, took over the space once occupied by Mint & Craft and already has a following. SLO Cider is opening downtown, near the creek.
And in a major coup for downtown, Cal Poly is taking over the long-vacant former Sports Authority building (longtime residents will recognize it as the former Copeland Sports and Rileys Department Store). It will be the new home of the Cal Poly Store and the university’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
That doesn’t mean these aren’t tough times for merchants.
Tariffs have taken a toll. The high cost of living here cuts into discretionary income. There’s competition not just from Amazon and other online retailers, but also from big-box retailers like Target and Costco that have lots of free parking (and no bike lanes.)
But strip malls with big-box stores are largely utilitarian, not the types of places where you linger over a cup of coffee or glass of wine, take out-of-town friends, or listen to live music on a weekend.
They don’t have the vibe of a real downtown, especially a downtown like SLO, with its Mission, its historic architecture, its creek, even its infamous Gumball Alley.
And if you’ve lived (or vacationed) on the Central Coast for any amount of time, you’ve made memories here. Maybe you shopped for a first prom dress or went bar hopping on your 21st birthday, or worked your first job in the downtown.
And we’re going to let a single article tell us that our downtown is dying?
No way.
Can downtown be saved?
Like any business district, downtown SLO needs to evolve. That’s already been happening in the downtown, where there’s been a growing emphasis on entertainment and experiences, rather than strictly retail.
A couple of decades ago, who could have imagined there would be an ax-throwing venue in the downtown?
Now we need to evolve along with it.
Start by recognizing that certain elements of the old downtown are gone. The Fremont doesn’t show movies anymore. There’s no more Foster’s Freeze. Parking garages have replaced parking lots, and these days, a quarter in the meter won’t buy you much time.
Speaking of which, maybe the city could cut us all a break by offering free parking on a weekday morning, when business is slow. And if any merchants want to offer a half-off coupon on a cup of coffee, that would be even better.
It may not win over SFGate, but it might convince a few diehard Downtown Haters to give it another try.
