Pismo Beach unusually quiet during a COVID Christmas
PISMO BEACH, Calif. - Pismo Beach is always beautiful during this time of year, but the usual crowds of holiday shoppers and vacationers aren't showing up like they used to and it's having an impact.
"We've pretty much let all our employees go, I think we still have a cook we keep just to keep this thing moving and give them something but we can't keep all our employees because there's no money coming in," said John McCartney with La Bodega Tapas.
Even though retail stores are still open for business, having restaurants like La Bodega only open for take-out impacts businesses like Cove, a furniture store located on Price Street.
"I think it has a huge impact on everybody. We definitely see a lot less foot traffic when the restaurants are closed because it is a huge draw for people," said Cove store manager Jennifer White.
That makes local shoppers more important than usual this holiday season.
"We've actually seen more people coming to shop here than we have seen in previous years. I think more people are getting to know us and there's more of a push for shopping local. We're not having necessarily as much foot traffic from people that are visiting, which can be a huge part of our business, but right now we are seeing a lot more locals which we really like," said White.
Stores like Cove and restaurants like Papi's Grill just down the road are thankful for the support of their local community.
"Thank you for supporting small businesses and for always being so generous with tips as well because it's just a hard time for everybody at the moment," said Silvia Lopez with Papi's Grill.
