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Needing a few last-minute gifts on a recent Saturday morning, I decided to head over to Montecito Country Mart where I could park my car and easily make the rounds of several retail stores I love.
Slowly but surely, owner James Rosenfeld’s dream of turning the shopping center into a neighborhood destination is becoming a reality. With many of the empty spaces filling up, fresh paint and landscaping, pony rides for the little ones from 10 a.m. to noon every Saturday, and an unmistakable energy in the air, the center has been transformed.
The place can still fill your basic needs, such as a bank, grocery store, pharmacy, dry cleaners and coffee shops. But specialty fashion stores are becoming must-visits, too.
Because of the center’s quirky and limited layout, many stores face the busy parking lots on Coast Village and Hot Springs roads. In the interior courtyard, however, many stores have dual entrances, which has allowed shops like Calypso, Intermix and James Perse to hold special seasonal events.
Rosenfeld has also added tables and chairs so shoppers can take a break for coffee, lunch or ice cream without the car exhaust.
One of Montecito Country Mart’s home runs — and a must-stop for me, especially for men’s items — has been Mate Gallery, which faces that courtyard. The store is the brainchild of partners Matt Albiani, a New York City fashion photographer, and Ron Brand, a Montecito Realtor.
When you step into the quaint, 160-square-foot space, the smell of salty air evokes the feel of Montauk, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard or some crusty sea captain’s hidden treasure trove.
“Mate Gallery is best described as a vintage home store where nautical comes to California,” Albiani told Noozhawk.
The shop has a constant flow of interesting finds, and has become a nationally recognized retail destination for unique, nostalgic and vintage items with some connection to the water.
Among the store’s most popular items are vintage African indigo, ship paint by numbers, Hardy Boys hardcover sets, nautical brass, Albiani’s beach- and surf-inspired photographs, and vintage one-of-a-kind seascape oils discovered at yard sales, antique stores and estate sales up and down the East Coast.
The well-edited vignettes, which start at the floor and rise to the high ceilings, can include hats, framed Americana flags, clocks, dish towels, clocks, ceramic cups and dishes, surfboards, anchor-inspired bottle openers, an original hardback copy of Jaws and, a even a Playboy Magazine in Braille.
Some new items that fit right in are soft denim shirts and hats with nautical logos.
Brand and Albiani have expanded their business to include a downtown showroom at 133 E. Anapamu St. across from the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.
The store also hosts community events, such as a recent book signing featuring Montecito resident and world-class surfer Shaun Tomson and his books, The Code: The Power of “I Will” and Surfer’s Code.
Next up is an Oct. 30 book party for Clinton Smith, editor-in-chief of the lifestyle magazine, Veranda.
Mate Gallery, at 1024 Coast Village Road in Montecito Country Mart, is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Click here for more information, or call 805.895.6283. Follow Mate Gallery on Instagram: @mategallery.
— Judy Foreman is a Noozhawk columnist and longtime local writer and lifestyles observer. She can be contacted at judyforeman@noozhawk.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.