New Business: Grand Openings & Ribbon Cuttings

If you are a new business opening in Downtown Santa Cruz, welcome to the neighborhood!

We’d love to support your new business by sharing your Grand Opening celebration information and help you coordinate a ribbon cutting at your Grand Opening celebration.

Generally, we first recommend scheduling a date (ideally to be a couple months after the actual opening of your doors to business. The actual opening of the doors is called a “soft opening”).

Once the Grand Opening date is scheduled, set a time. An average Grand Opening celebration does well at the two hour length of time, and generally receives good attendance around “happy hour” time, but can vary depending on the type of business.

Once the date and time has been established, let us know by emailing: events@downtownsantacruz.com and members@downtownsantacruz.com. Generally, we will need a couple of weeks lead time to coordinate our schedules and help promote. Our coordination includes providing the giant scissors and red ribbon, plus inviting elected city officials such as the mayor, Economic Development Dept. staff, and any other dignitaries. Ribbon cuttings generally do well about 30 minutes-1 hour into the start of your Grand Opening event. For example, if your Grand Opening celebration is set for 5:00pm-7:00pm, a ribbon cutting at 5:30pm or 6:00pm would be ideal.

In preparation of a Grand Opening celebration, we suggest:

Write a Press Release and send it to all publications – local, county, as well as those relative to your business, including Downtown Santa Cruz.
Create a Facebook event and invite your friends, family, followers. Make sure to include Downtown Santa Cruz!
Post/Share on Instagram and social media outlets. Make sure to #downtownsantacruz
Send an invitation to any email lists you may have, including marketing@downtownsantacruz.com
Bring a stack of flyer invitations to the Information Kiosk located in front of New Leaf Community Market, 1130-K2 Pacific Ave.

If you have any questions, connect with us!

members@downtownsantacruz.com

831.332-7422 x3

740 Front St. Suite #160
Santa Cruz, CA 95060