Santa Barbara County moves to Orange Tier: How this impacts businesses in Santa Maria

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - For businesses across Santa Maria, the pandemic hasn’t done them any favors.

"We’ve been struggling for a while trying to compete with other restaurants out there," said general manager Jose Sanguino with Figueroa Mountain Brewery.

"This has been hard on everybody, business included," said owner Angie Shaparro with Anthony's Jewelers.

"I think a lot of people got very creative with curbside pick up and different scheduling and different hours throughout the year," said marketing manager Kristen LaGrange with the Santa Maria Town Center Mall.

Since hitting the even less restrictive Orange Tier, stores are thrilled to open their doors to 100 percent capacity.

"I am absolutely thrilled just really excited for things to get back to normal. We’ve been looking forward to it for so long. Now retail can operate without any capacity limit," said LaGrange.

Anthony’s Jewelers said the new tier is great for everyone.

"Well I’m very happy of course. You know not just for me but for everybody. Because if people are making more money people are going to come in more often so I’m very happy about it," said Shaparro.

Since the announcement of the Orange Tier, managers with Figueroa Mountain brewery are expecting more customers to come in so they’re ordering new furniture.

"We’re bringing in new tables and starting today we’re bringing more new seats as well for the bar side," said Sanguino.

Once the movie theater at Santa Maria Town Center Mall reopens in May, its capacity will be set at 50 percent.

"The movie theater can bring a lot of foot traffic to Santa Maria Town Center Mall, so their reopening will mean a lot more shoppers coming to the stores here," said LaGrange.