Downtown Difference Maker: Ocean Beach Business Center

Photo credit: Ocean Beach Business Center

CAMSA Quarterly | Spring 2021
By: Kristen Keltner, Event & Program Manager, Ocean Beach MainStreet Association, and Abby Armato, Communications Coordinator, NMSC

We were thrilled to see that the Ocean Beach Business Center won two awards at the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association’s Annual Award Celebration, this year themed Lemonade Out of Lemons. We connected with Ocean Beach MainStreet Association (OBMA) to learn more about the Business Center and its role in the community:

Just like everything else, the OBMA’s Annual Awards Celebration looked different, but in the spirit of making Lemonade out of Lemons (which was theme for this year’s celebration), the Main Street association decided the show must go on. Receiving two awards at this Annual Awards Celebration was the Ocean Beach Business Center (OBBC): Ocean Beach’s local business center and print shop. Located in the Business Improvement District, the OBBC won two awards for making Lemonade out of Lemons in 2020 and showcasing the OB spirit. Nominated by the OBMA Promotion Committee, the OBBC won the online voting award, along with the Community Service Award, which is decided by both OBMA members and community members through online voting.

“OBBC’s goal has always been geared to being a central hub for the community,” shared Joella and Chris Peregoy, owners of the Ocean Beach Business Center.

Chris and Joella purchased the Ocean Beach Business Center in 2017. Originally from Phoenix, AZ, the Peregoy’s fell in love with OB after vacationing there for many years. Since taking ownership, Chris and Joella have upgraded the Ocean Beach Business Center's equipment and services, including in-store USPS, UPS, and FedEx shipping services. They also began advertising printing smaller items like shipping labels as well as larger marketing materials such as fliers, brochures, bulk mailers, and banners. A friend to the community’s people and pets, the OBBC is also known to give dog treats to all the furry friends that come to their shop.

Their new co-working space – the latest extension of their mission to be a hub for the community – had only been open for three weeks when the pandemic hit. But that didn’t stop the Peregoy’s from finding ways to support their community safely. “The Ocean Beach Business Center did a ton in 2020 to better our community!” Kristen Keltner, Event & Program Manager at OBMA, told us. While the impact of their efforts was celebrated at the OBMA’s Annual Awards Celebration, we wanted to take a moment to spotlight this OB Downtown Difference Maker.

OBBC: A Hub for the Community

In the year of making “lemonade out of lemons,” the OBBC stepped up to help their community in big ways. One of the many facets of the community Chris and Joella served was the OB business community. They used their social media platforms to highlight local businesses that didn’t have storefronts but relied on online sales, providing links to their products, websites, images, and sometimes even personal reviews. They also provided shipping options, printing material, and other business-related needs for these e-commerce businesses.

Chris and Joella also played an active role in supporting those who were experiencing financial hardships due to the pandemic. They collaborated with local businesses to help sponsor a program providing materials for resumes and other paper-based needs to low-income individuals who had lost their jobs or were looking for employment. They printed and faxed unemployment forms for those who had recently lost their job at no cost.

In addition to supporting their business community, the OBBC also played an active role in supporting the young people of OB during the pandemic. To support students who were learning remotely, the OBBC created a prepaid/discounted copy and printing program to assist families with their homeschooling needs. This program included copying and printing as well as customization such as three-hole punch, stapling, binding, and lamination. Beyond supporting remote learners, the OBBC donated paper, cardstock, and office supplies to a local preschool to help reduce the cost of arts and crafts for their students. They also donated printers to a local special needs school. This printing equipment served a dual purpose, both assisting the school with their own printing needs and becoming part of a job skills training program.

The OBBC’s reach goes beyond supporting the education of their community’s young people. Throughout 2020, they created coloring materials and other treats to hand out to kids. “The material is usually geared to a holiday,” shared OBBC. “For example, we recently had Red Envelopes to honor Lunar New Year. Mother’s Day we will do preprinted cards; same for Father’s Day. Christmas, we had stationery and envelopes for Letters to Santa and reindeer coloring pages with lollipops.”

In addition to the Christmas stationery and envelopes, Chris and Joella worked hard to ensure the winter holidays were as magical as possible for OB. They worked with Ocean Beach Town Council to be a venue for donation drop-offs during the holiday toy drive, became a pick-up location for the Ocean Beach Town Council's holiday ornaments, and a drop-off location for the downtown district’s holiday tree. Keeping their community’s young people in mind, the owners of OBBC created a local Letters to Santa mailbox, and played a key role in making sure all letter-writers received a letter back: “When we were made aware that USPS may not deliver Santa’s responses in time, we hand delivered all letters to kids on by Christmas Eve.”

So what’s next for the OBBC? Creating a pen-pal program between kids and local senior homes. Chris and Joella hope this will, “provide a line of communication [to] an era past as well as teach younger kids how to write letters and send mail while giving seniors some joy.”