Erica Nichols and Marie Tutko, with Jeanette Giovannellio, Elena Gomez, Kai Oliver- Kurtin, Jenna Miller, Sarah Pfledderer, Hannah Lott-Schwartz, and Carlos Rico | Photography by Kimberly Motos
We love San Diego’s small businesses, and you should, too. In these pages we’ve highlighted a sample of the many independently owned and effortlessly cool retail shops that make up our city.
At these brick-and-mortars, both old and new, you can score a secondhand statement piece, shop handmade accessories, discover local brands, and fall in love with shopping small all over again. Got your credit card? You’re about to do some damage.
Sew Loka
Claudia Rodríguez-Biezunski says she never imagined she’d own a sewing studio. Growing up, she was no stranger to the art: Her father owned a denim factory, and her mother sewed clothes for her and her five siblings. But she wanted to study upholstery design. A class project to construct a cover for a couch cushion changed her path—she sewed on handles and made a handbag instead. That’s when it clicked.
“When you learn how to sew, you can make anything,” she says.
Rodríguez-Biezunski opened Sew Loka in 2013, first in Bankers Hill, then she relocated to Barrio Logan. Over the years she developed a line of bags and clothes that she markets as “exclusive and wearable AF.” There’s quilted purses, leather crossbody bags, and denim jackets, all made from upcycled materials.
Sew Loka was one of the innumerable stores that had to close their doors in March 2020 and come up with a new plan. At first, she leaned into her sewing skills and made masks (10,000 of them). Summer came, and she started to worry—not only about her business, but her neighbors, too. She says the shops along Logan Avenue are owned by people with community ties to Barrio Logan, and if they close, that puts the neighborhood at risk for gentrification.
This led her into another role she never expected for herself: community organizing. She teamed up with Alexandra Pérez Demma, owner of Simón Limón, to find a way to bring much-needed foot traffic back to the barrio.
Rodríguez-Biezunski figured out how to apply for grants and a permit to operate outdoors, and she helped other business owners navigate the process. This led to Walk the Block, a weekly event that transforms Logan Avenue’s sidewalks into an outdoor market. Rodríguez-Biezunski says it saved her business, and that some artists have since been able to open their first storefront:
“That’s basically what we wanted—for there to be a strong business community here, where we could all lean on each other.”
2113 Logan Avenue, Barrio Logan