Shop Ventura, Save Ventura: Did You Know About the Perfect Holiday Gift Card?

by Visit Ventura

  Last week Visit Ventura launched “Shop Ventura, Save Ventura.” Why? Honest and simple, these are incredibly tough times for our Ventura businesses. How tough? According to recent forecasts, one in six Ventura retailers, and one out of two Ventura restaurants, won’t make it through Covid. But forecasts aren’t written in stone. And difficulties can be overcome. In Ventura, we know this firsthand. Helping Local can change everything. Yes, Holiday shopping here in Ventura — and everywhere else — is going to look different this season. Gone are the days of standing in lines and jostling at counters, which, as you may already be realizing, isn’t all bad. On a serious note, not everyone will be able to afford gifts. But if you can, one of the best ways to “Shop Ventura, Save Ventura” is with a Ventura County Axxess Card. Before we get to the benefits to you, know that Axxess fundraising has earned local schools, nonprofits, and other worthy groups over $3.4 million since 2004. Participating Axxess merchants rang up over $17 million in sales last year. And you? The $40 card (cost to you; and if you buy it through a fundraising organization, $13 of that goes right to the organization — an Elfin good deed right off the bat) helps families save, on average, $1000. So after you’re done buying something uniquely Local for someone you care about (over a thousand Ventura County merchants participate in the program), well treat yourself and a friend to, ching, a buy-one-get-one-free burrito deal at a local restaurant (Axxess offers dozens of these deals). Or maybe for you Holiday calorie conscious sorts a buy-one-get-one-free salad. Nah. Go ahead and get the burrito. Visiting Ventura? First, thank you. Second, stay a night or two and wield the Ventura County Axxess card like local — buying your family two-for-one dinners, treats and maybe an early gift or two. So for everything Axxess — including participating Ventura merchants — please click here.   And you can buy your Axxess card at the Ventura Visitors Center (101 South California Street; please call ahead 805-641-1400 to make sure we haven’t sold out). And while you are so very kindly Shopping Ventura, Saving Ventura — using the Axxess card or not — take a breather to enjoy the glorious town around you. Ventura’s winter days are cerulean blue and sun-bright with just the right (not too much) touch of crisp. Stroll pedestrian-friendly Main Street (now closed to traffic and bestowed with a European air). Walk beside the ocean. Or perhaps amble through Ventura’s high-in-the-hills lovely Botanical Gardens and look out on the Pacific Ocean. Maybe, for a moment, stand still and consider the considerable gifs we have been given in every season. And how it does the world good when we help each other.