As businesses along Cesar Chavez Street in Santa Barbara navigate rising costs, they are preparing for another change: updating their addresses when the street officially becomes Limuw Street in January.
The change will affect 86 addresses, requiring business owners and residents to update everything from customer communications to vendor records and official documents.
Every week there is a new price increase coming through, said Ryan Davis, general manager of Bedrock Building Supplies, reflecting a concern shared by many business owners along the street.
Davis said the name change will bring additional administrative work for businesses already dealing with rising expenses.
Were gonna have to change our address in all our texts, our customers and vendors, Davis said. Theres little things that are gonna go into it.
For businesses that regularly produce paperwork, the transition could be even more involved.
The challenge for us is going to be implementation of the name change on every document that we produce, said Michael Holliday, lead architect at DHMA.
The City Council has directed staff to explore a small-business assistance program that could help cover certain direct costs associated with the transition.
Some business owners also hope the city will provide resources to make the process easier and reduce the time required to update records.
It would be nice if the city came up with a template, or anything that they can do to ease some of the time that its going to take, one business owner said.
While the new street name takes effect in January, the transition will not happen overnight. The U.S. Postal Service will continue delivering mail addressed to either Cesar Chavez Street or Limuw Street for the entire year, giving businesses and residents time to update their address records.
For those along the corridor, the additional time may help ease the transition as they adjust to a new street name and the logistical changes that come with it.