Holiday Shoppers Add To Fabric Of Downtown's Small Business Community

By:  Ashleigh Ruhl

Entrepreneur Laurie Gray lives and works downtown, and she says that’s where she does all of her holiday shopping, too.

“I hardly ever leave downtown,” the owner of The Pie Bar (450 Pine Ave.) said, noting that there’s no real reason to go far from home since everything she needs is right in her own backyard.

“The whole downtown area, especially Pine Avenue, has so many great new shops,” she said. “This is a great place to shop for the holidays.”

The Pie Bar itself, which is marking its third Christmas season in business, features different holiday pies — from eggnog custard to chocolate pecan. Yuletide pie-making workshops and mini-pie gift sets also are a staple of the season.

Gray’s thriving business is just one example among the many mom-and-pops operating downtown, from the East Village Arts District through The Streets to Pine Avenue (we’ll get to Shoreline Village and The Pike in the next edition of The Grunion Gazette). The area has more than 1,600 businesses, all part of the Downtown Long Beach Alliance.

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