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As HGTV stars Joanna and Chip Gaines’ clients explore the homes the couple flipped for them on “Fixer Upper,” they’re met with a meticulously furnished interior designed in the spirit of their revamped Waco, Texas houses.
Though the reality show clients don’t get to keep Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Home Furniture items, Santa Barbarans now have the opportunity to.
Last weekend, HOME Santa Barbara, which sells Gaines’ interior-design lines, celebrated its grand opening at 14 Parker Way.
“She does all of the designing, all of the quality control — her hand is in all of it,” said Lisa Knutson, who owns HOME Santa Margarita in San Luis Obispo County with business partner Lisa Rodgers.
The two help Knutson’s daughter and son-in-law Lynsey and Jason Trueman run HOME Santa Barbara.
Most stores around the country that sell Magnolia Home Furniture lines were already in the home décor business, but Knutson and Rodgers started their stores from scratch with the focus solely on Gaines’ products.
With the Truemans already in Santa Barbara, Knutson said she thought downtown would be the ideal place for a second location.
The neighborhood offers the foot traffic of State Street but without the parking troubles, she said. The corner store has large windows to showcase its catalog.
“We love the area,” Knutson said. “We chose Santa Barbara as a whole to bring this amazing line to the city and the outlying areas here.”
Each fall and spring, Gaines releases a new line, she added.
“There’s a huge number of designers and the need, it seems like, for designers. It’s a very popular industry down here,” she said.
Knutson and Rodgers, who also help clients with their interior design needs, are looking to open another HOME store in downtown Clovis, near Fresno.
HOME Santa Barbara is currently open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
America’s Tire coming to Goleta
America’s Tire is preparing to enter the South Coast market this year.
Just sold to the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company was the long-vacant parcel at 151 S. Fairview Ave. in Goleta, between Hollister Avenue and Highway 101.
Lee & Associates broker Rob Adams told Noozhawk that the company has been wanting to enter the market. Its closest location is in Ventura, though there is one at 1226 S. Broadway in Santa Maria.
Once a gas station, the fenced-off dirt lot has been empty for several years, populated mainly by trucks and cranes. It is next to Big Brand Tire & Service, which is located on the corner of Fairview and Hollister avenues.
The 0.8-acre lot was priced at $3,250,000. Outside of California, the company is known as Discount Tire.
Big Dog Sportswear moves to Paseo Nuevo shopping center
Clothing company Big Dog Sportswear has moved from 400 State Street to the Paseo Nuevo shopping center several blocks north.
Big Dog was closed for no more than two weeks as it left the corner of State and Gutierrez streets for 101 Paseo Nuevo, said Mary-Lynn Harms-Romo, the shopping center’s marketing and specialty leasing manager.
Known for its white and black dog logo and mascot, the company was founded in Santa Barbara in the 1980s.
“Big Dog has been a well-loved brand in Santa Barbara for over 30 years,” Paseo Nuevo general manager Kristen Weidemann said in a statement. “We are happy they will call Paseo Nuevo home and provide the community and out-of-town visitors with quality and fun Santa Barbara apparel.”
InTouch Health celebrates new headquarters
Goleta telemedicine company InTouch Health cut the ribbon Tuesday on its new headquarters at 7402 Hollister Ave.
InTouch employs over 200 people around the world, most of whom are based locally. According to the 13-year-old company, it will add more than 60 new engineering, administrative, sales and manufacturing jobs this year.
The ribbon-cutting, done in conjunction with the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce, included a facility tour and information about autonomous medical robots and the history of medical robotics development in Santa Barbara.
Simply put, InTouch’s technology is used to connect physicians with a combination of cloud-based networking and end points that have robotics technology in them.
According to the company, its technology has enabled over 850,000 remote health consultations, and that over 6,000 physicians use its telehealth platform.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.