SLO Ranch Farms and Marketplace is home to a limited-run holiday boutique throughout the holidays, put on by newly founded business, Hello Creative. The three women who founded Hello Creative—Abigail Ybarra, Tamara Shibata, and Karla Wenger—are focusing on highlighting small businesses during the holiday season.
About 65 local makers, artists, and small businesses are featured at the holiday boutique, according to Ybarra. The boutique opened on Nov. 22 and will run until Dec. 28 in SLO Ranch Farms and Marketplace’s event space in The Pavilion.
By providing a space to show local products, the founders of Hello Creative want to eliminate the struggles small businesses have selling their wares. Ybarra, Wenger, and Shibata helped style their makers’ products and are aiming to get those items in front of more eyes, according to Ybarra.
Wenger and her husband are the founders of The Mayan Collective, a shop and candle bar housed at SLO Ranch, and Shibata is the creator and maker behind Woven Handmade, which features earrings, knit beanies, and macrame accessories.
Ybarra’s business, Creative Coast, was established in 2020, where she helps businesses of all sizes grow into their full potential through her personalized services.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Ybarra met with many small businesses and noticed some of them did not have the resources and support to continue on. She saw an opportunity to help provide these companies with one-on-one services like social media management, website design, and more that large businesses often have easy access to.
“So however much I can provide them for free without having to put in the big bucks, I have seen the return that they see that the investment in me is a good resource,” Ybarra said.
Each woman behind Hello Creative has her own small business to run, so they know how hard it can be to entice crowds to find and purchase their products.
As soon as the trio launched Hello Creative in July, they slowly began to roll out applications for makers and their products to be featured in their holiday boutique.
“In the Central Coast, we have such an incredible population of small businesses, creatives, and makers,” Ybarra said.
Ahead of the boutique at SLO Ranch, the women told their makers to prepare as many items as they could.
“And then after that first week, we can reassess and say, ‘Hey, maybe these products aren’t selling as well, let’s try this one instead,’ or ‘This product is selling like crazy, we need 20 more,’” Ybarra said.
Hello Creative’s team knows that it can be hard for people to shop small during the holiday season when big retailers like Target and Amazon are readily accessible.
“But if people can take the time to come and see that amazing creativity that is here, is local,” Ybarra said, “we’re hoping to just be able to uplift and grow the population of businesses that are local.”
Fast fact
• The Paso Robles Lions Club is hosting its Holiday Dinner Party and Fundraiser on Dec. 16 at 5 p.m. at Jeffry’s BBQ, 819 12th St. For $50, diners get a dinner from Chef Jeffry of Jeffry’s BBQ and can play games with the chance to win prizes. Proceeds are returned to the Paso Robles community through Paso High School scholarships, sportsmanship awards, and other local projects. Tickets are available through Dec. 9 at pasorobleslionsclub.org.
• San Luis Obispo’s Buy Local Bonus is back for the holiday shopping season, starting on Black Friday. For the sixth year in a row, shoppers who spend $100 at SLO businesses can qualify for a $25 gift card to another SLO business, while supplies last. Bring a copy of your itemized receipt to the SLO Visitor Center at the corner of Morro and Monterey streets in downtown SLO. Qualified participants can choose between available gift cards, and shoppers can qualify up to three times through Christmas Eve or until the program sells out. To learn more, visit buylocalbonusslo.com. ∆
Reach Intern Bella Cox at ntintern@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 7, 2025.