3 new stores open in downtown Sacramento as popular restaurant forced to close

SACRAMENTO – Three new stores have opened in less than two weeks in downtown Sacramento. At the same time, a popular restaurant was forced to close for good.

It's a grand opening celebration for the newest business in Old Sacramento.

"It's exciting, it's so wonderful, this is a dream come true," said Hope Menefee, owner of Ecojoyous.

Ecojoyous is a store selling locally made crafts and upcycled goods.

But this new Old Sacramento shop is within sight of another family-owned business that just shut down last weekend .

Rio City Cafe had been along Sacramento's waterfront for 30 years.

It permanently closed after the city of Sacramento, which owns the building, refused to fix the dilapidated outdoor dining deck.

"It definitely impacts the community as a whole," said Andrew LaFrance with Downtown Sacramento Partnership.

It's the latest ebb and flow of downtown's business economy.

"It will change and things will get better for sure," Menefee said.

Further down K Street, the Starbucks at the entrance to Downtown Commons has also closed.

But within the last 10 days, two new businesses—the Cabana Club and Lucky Gold Jewelry—have opened in DOCO.

"I think there's so much going on and we have to keep propelling that forward, making fun places for locals, for tourists," said Paula Thompson, owner of Cabana Club.

For more than a decade, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership has run the Calling All Dreamers contest, a program to help create more local businesses.

That's how Menefee was able to open her shop.

"She was able to sit down, think through financial projections, marketing, staffing, hr, all of that and kind of round out her business concept," LaFrance said.

Capital Tuk-Tuk is another successful contestant, now giving rides to people in a three-wheeled electric vehicle.

"There's lots of small businesses that you can come and support, there's great restaurants and attractions as well," said Manushi Weerasinghe, the owner of Capital Tuk Tuk.

Small business owners like Menefee, now hoping more people will come downtown and check out what's new.

"It is very promising," Menefee said.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg says he is working to bring back a $40 million plan to modernize the Old Sacramento waterfront that was postponed during the pandemic.