After more than three decades in business, Antique Alley on State Street is preparing to close its doors, marking another shift along downtown Santa Barbara’s main corridor.
Owner Eva Linowski said the store has witnessed the evolution of State Street firsthand.
“We’ve seen everything,” Linowski said. “When we first started out, many of the stores were full.”
In recent years, however, she said the area has struggled with vacancies.
“We have a lot of empty stores. It’s unfortunate,” she said.
Antique Alley will close its State Street location on Dec. 21. Despite the closure, Linowski expressed support for the city’s ongoing efforts to reimagine the downtown corridor.
“Personally, I like the street open,” she said. “There are no cars — I don’t have to breathe the exhaust or listen to super loud music.”
The changes are part of the city’s State Street Master Plan, a long-term effort to revitalize downtown over the next 20 to 30 years. The plan builds on the eight-block closure implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to create a permanent design for State Street.
Proposals include expanded accessibility, improved pedestrian corridors and added amenities such as public restrooms.
Some local vendors say those changes are necessary to make the space more functional.
Dylan Wild, who operates a honey stand at the farmers market, said improvements to the street’s surface should be a priority.
“If they’re going to make it pedestrian, they’ve got to level it out so it doesn’t look like a street with lines in it,” Wild said.
According to the plan, the project will roll out in phases. The first phase focuses on smaller, test projects estimated to cost between $8 million and $10 million. Phase two includes larger upgrades projected at $30 million to $50 million.
A final phase would invest an additional $20 million to $30 million in long-term maintenance, bringing the total projected cost to as much as $90 million.
