San Diego County narrowly avoided moving back to “Tier 1” on the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy plan. This is good news for Carlsbad businesses as it avoids further closures and occupancy caps beyond what is in effect today. For current state industry guidance on what is able to be open, click here.

Yesterday, September 23, Governor Newsom signed an executive order that includes an extension of authorization for local eviction moratoria through March 31, 2021.

We now have 54 Carlsbad businesses signed up for Gift Carlsbad – the value-added eGift Card program that drives revenue to local businesses. This is a great showing of merchants, but we want to add more!

New businesses are signing up daily, and the current push is to get more restaurants on the platform. The more businesses that are listed and the more variety of business types, the more consumers will want to use the program, a win-win situation. Marketing efforts shifted this week from a focus on signing up businesses to the public to use the site for purchases, so sign up soon!

Any Carlsbad business can participate and joining is easy. Most businesses are able to sign up and set up their account in about 10 minutes. Sign up at GiftCarlsbad.com today. Chamber staff and CVA staff are available to guide businesses through the quick and easy signup process.

We realize that businesses are still struggling and the previous few months of downtime mean businesses are still playing catch-up. 

While many relief programs have already closed or run out of funding, the Carlsbad Business Loan Program still has funds available. There are two loan types for Carlsbad small businesses. The first are small business microloans of between $5,000 - $10,000 for businesses with $2,000,000 or less in gross revenue or 15 or fewer employees. The second are small business recovery loans of between $10,000 - $25,000 for businesses with $3,000,000 or less in gross revenue and 50 or fewer employees. Both loans types include scaled interest rates depending on how quickly the loan can be repaid. Neither loan type is forgivable. Click here for the application.

Tourism is important to Carlsbad’s overall economy, and 2020 was not a normal season. The City of Carlsbad was happy to fund “Carlsbad is Calling” a campaign led by Visit Carlsbad focused on positioning the city for staycations .

While travel is still far lower than normal, the desire to explore surrounding drivable areas is on the rise, and the local market can provide a boost for our visitor-serving establishments. The campaign, which launches today, will run at key times through spring 2021, and provide awareness while promoting safe leisure travel to the destination.

Finally, the City of Carlsbad is proud of the programs created to support businesses. You can hear our Innovation & Economic Development team talk about all that’s been done in this short video.