Five women business owners in the Village of Arroyo Grande have formed a guild to make their connection to the community even stronger.
Cheryl Livio lives in Pismo Beach but says the charm of the Village keeps her coming back to the heart of Arroyo Grande. She said in her time on the Central Coast, she’s seen a lot of change in the Village.
“It's so sad to see so many businesses closed because there was so many family businesses that were open several, like 20 years ago," Livio said. "Slowly, they've closed up. It's nice to see that the businesswomen are getting together to form a guild. I think that's awesome.”
The owners of Monarch Books, Humdinger Brewing, Neighbors, Mule Bakery and The Gallery recently formed the Arroyo Grande Village Merchant Guild to highlight the local businesses in the Village and create a stronger relationship with locals and tourists.
“We're just surprised at how many cute and wonderful things there are to do in such a primarily rural agricultural area," said Jessica Glover, who was visiting Arroyo Grande on Monday. "These little cities are just so adorable when you stumble across them.”
Alex Creswell is the owner of Neighbors and the Merchant Guild's Board Chair.
“I think because we are a little bit smaller, we're a little bit off the beaten path," Creswell said. "We want to celebrate the things that make us special.”
This isn’t the first organization of business owners in the Village. Before the Merchant’s Guild, there was another nonprofit that brought Village businesses together. Creswell says that after the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization fell by the wayside.
“We’re craving ways to connect, ways to promote the Village, ways to get more people shopping here," Creswell said. "We hear a lot from locals that they don't even know about the Village and so want to have a unified channel to spread the word.”
Cresswell said the five business owners first started talking about forming the guild last October. They officially became a nonprofit in January and started spreading the word this month.
She said 30 of the 50 businesses in the Village went to the most recent board meeting.
Every member of the founding group is a woman, which Creswell said wasn’t on purpose, but carries an empowering message.
“As women, we get stuff done and we're excited to come together and help get information out and be a resource to locals and to tourists," Creswell said.
As your Arroyo Grande community reporter, I’m in the Village often and started looking into this story after hearing about it earlier this month. If you have something you’d like me to look into or know about, I’d love to hear from you! You can call me at (805) 597-8407 or email me at Makayla.Richardson@ksby.com.
