City council approves juice bar for South Paseo

Five people submitted requests for the space. They included the Chamber of Commerce, a Christian bookstore, a gift shop, an independent bookstore and a juice bar. The city used a ranking system to determine the best business use of the space. The criteria covered such things as sales tax generating, foot traffic generating, high visibility operation, cultural or community benefit, consistent with the goals of the downtown plan, business viability and appropriateness for a city-owned building. Two of the proposed businesses tied with 78 points each. They were the independent bookstore and the juice bar.City staff recommended the juice bar, saying it was a slightly better choice, as it would potentially generate more foot traffic.Oscar Crisosto, a local resident, is proposing the juice bar. In his letter to the city he said, “By becoming a new business at the South Paseo storefront I will help renovate and improve foot traffic on Main Street. I will also give the consumers the opportunity to stay for a while. What I am offering is a nice place to enjoy a healthy and fresh alternative; something Santa Paula will get used to very quickly; something that we have been missing for too long.” Besides fruit juice drinks, he also intends to offer fruit cocktails, smoothies and ice cream.The city council unanimously approved negotiating a lease with Crisosto and asked staff to help the bookstore proponent find a space as well.