Businesses looking to boost revenue after heavy rainstorm in Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - It’s a beautiful day in Santa Barbara.

And visitors from Los Angeles are in town after last week’s rainstorm. 

"There’s no better place to be outside than in Santa Barbara after weeks of rain and being trapped in the city. Like this is a dream come true," said visitor Maddy Hyams of Los Angeles.

Business owners are also glad to get a break from the rain, as many faced a variety of challenges during the rainstorm starting with the Santa Barbara Design Center.

The lower part is outdoors … we are mostly interior design … but what happened is the water raised … and  we lost a few items down there. It was actually on my birthday which was funny. It was hectic," said president Michael Kourosh of the Santa Barbara Design Center.

Owner Jez Blacker at Just LED AND LIGHTS is patiently waiting for the large puddles of water along Gutierrez street and olive street to drain.

"We had the maximum rain last weSOT{Laura Luevanos of Backyard Bowls}ek and the sandbags just about held up with water going over the top. So we kept them there with for the next one … so we had a heavy rain yesterday but not as much as the one before," said Blacker.

Another obstacle for Blacker involved the loss of staffing during the rainstorm.

"We were challenged with all the water and people being off sick," said Blacker.

Managers at the Santa Barbara Roasting Company and Backyard Bowls said sales have slowed significantly since the start of the rainstorm.

And Backyard Bowls is facing other economic pressures ahead of spring season.

"With the weather and it’s winter time a lot of people don’t want to get açaí bowls anymore so we definitely want to remain open as much as we can," said shift lead Laura Luevanos of Backyard Bowls. "Right now with the inflation of the eggs for example we sell avocado toasts here … that’s something we’re going to be affected by. We had to reduce menu items as well."

Michael kourosh of The Santa Barbara  design center is concerned about a potential recession. 

"We are going to go into a recession and the housing then slows down .. I’ve seen it three times so far in my life … we plan for it ahead," said Kourosh.

In addition to this past week's inclement weather, local business owners are also concerned about higher costs, challenges finding more workers and overall economic uncertainty.

According to the National Federation of Independent Business, small business optimism fell throughout the month of December.