New Campaign Encourages Tulsans To Support Local Downtown Businesses

A new campaign by the Downtown Coordinating Council in Tulsa encourages people to come back to downtown and support local businesses.

Business at Elote Cafe and Catering may not be booming just yet, but it is slowly starting to get back to normal. The downtown Tulsa restaurant is just one of many across the state recovering after the pandemic devastated business the past year.

"It's just different,” said Libby Billings, the owner. “We've had to change a lot. We've had to do a lot more delivery. A lot more DoorDash."

Billings said businesses downtown have faced unique challenges. With many office buildings closed and employees working from home, their lunch crowd has dwindled. With fewer concerts, the pre-show crowd is non-existent.

"Since those things really haven't been in session, it's just been more impactful on our sales," Billings said.

With vaccinations ramping up and fewer restrictions, Billings is hopeful.

She's a member of the Downtown Coordinating Council, which is an advisory board made up of downtown business owners. This week they launched a campaign called "Back to Downtown", reminding people they're still here.

"I think the idea of promoting to return to downtown is to keep more places from closing, because we've worked really hard," Billings said.

The council is advertising on social media and working with a PR firm to get the message out.

Billings hopes this is a reminder, they're all ready to get back to normal soon.

"We haven't seen some of our regulars in a really long,” said Billings. “Just to remind them when you come back to work, hopefully you know we're still here."

The city said about 95 percent of businesses downtown are locally owned.