Shop local, Lodi—every dollar tells a story

The Lodi NewsSentinel recently published “5 Great Reasons to Go Local,” and it offered a timely reminder: the shops, restaurants, boutiques, tasting rooms, and service providers lining our streets are not merely places to spend money. They are the economic engine powering our schools and infrastructure, the employers hiring our neighbors and children, and the reason visitors choose to come — and return.

Locally owned retailers reinvest nearly 48 percent of their revenue back into our local economy; locally owned restaurants return nearly 65 percent. At a national chain, those figures collapse to 13 and 30 cents on the dollar. That gap, replicated across thousands of daily transactions, is the difference between a Lodi that merely survives and one that genuinely thrives.

A Dream Built from Scratch

Walk north on Sacramento Street — a priority corridor in our Downtown Specific Plan — and you’ll find a small storefront easy to miss, yet impossible to forget once you step inside. Moka by Sarai, at 210 North Sacramento Street, is a woman-owned jewelry boutique unlike anything else in Lodi. Each piece is gold-plated, dainty, customizable, and deliberately meaningful: the Vicenta watch, designed in honor of founder Saraí Campos’s grandmother; the delicate Daisy necklace, a quiet celebration of simplicity and beauty. Every item carries a story, because the woman who made it believes jewelry should do more than decorate — it should speak.

Saraí shared her story at a recent

City Council meeting where Vice-Mayor Mikey Hothi issued a proclamation recognizing Small Business Week. In her own words: “I’m Saraí — the one behind Moka, a brand born from passion, the dream of creating something meaningful from scratch, and a whole lot of faith. When I moved to the United States, I didn’t have a roadmap, connections, or guarantees. What I did have was creativity, ambition, and the desire to build something that reflected who I am.”

Over more than four years, what began as a small jewelry idea grew into something far bigger: a space where people feel confident, inspired, and connected through meaningful pieces.

For Saraí, Moka has never been just about jewelry — it’s about the experience. She envisioned a place where every customer feels welcomed the moment they walk in, whether they’re customizing a charm necklace, finding a sentimental gift, or simply discovering a piece that makes them feel beautiful.

Choosing Lodi, she says, felt natural. “This city gave me the opportunity to grow, take risks, and become part of a supportive community that truly values small businesses.”

Today she is a Lodi Chamber of Commerce member, a downtown business owner, and a living example of what happens when a community creates the conditions for entrepreneurial dreams to take root. “Moka represents growth, creativity, culture, and the reminder that dreams built with passion can become reality.”

Sacramento Street Needs Us Now

I highlight Moka not only because Saraí’s story is worth celebrating, but because Sacramento Street deserves our deliberate attention. A healthy, vibrant downtown does not happen by accident — it requires investment, foot traffic, and the community loyalty that turns a corridor into a destination.

When residents and visitors choose to explore beyond School Street and discover what Sacramento Street offers, they are participating in the revitalization of a corridor with enormous potential, realized one customer at a time. “Shop local” means making a specific choice to seek out a specific street, a specific storefront, and a specific business owner who has bet their livelihood on Lodi.

The Numbers Behind Small Business

Lodi’s general fund relies primarily on sales tax revenue. In the most recent fiscal year, general sales taxes generated approximately $16.8 million for our city — funding police and fire services, parks, and basic infrastructure. Our voter-approved Measure L contributed an additional $9.26 million. Every purchase made at a Lodi-owned business rather than an online retailer or outof-town chain is a direct contribution to those figures. When you buy a piece of jewelry from Saraí instead of clicking through Amazon, you are making a civic choice about what kind of city Lodi will be.

Small businesses also give back in ways no corporate ledger captures. Nationally, small businesses donate 250 percent more to local nonprofits than large businesses do. Locally, the United Way of San Joaquin raises $2–3 million annually, crediting hundreds of local workplace campaigns. Small businesses sponsor youth sports leagues, show up at school fundraisers, sustain our Chamber of Commerce, advertise in our Lodi News Sentinel and donate to every charitable gala in San Joaquin County.

I can personally attest to this. As an active Rotarian, I’ve been continually humbled by the generosity of our local business owners — sponsoring charity bike rides, black-tie galas, shrimp feeds, and our club’s Oktoberfest celebration. Time and again, when a local nonprofit or community event needs support, it is our small businesses that step forward first. Their relationship with our civic life is not transactional. It is personal, invested, and woven into the very character of our community.

Tourism — Authentic Lodi

Visitors don’t come to Lodi to find what they already have at home. They come for our world-class winegrape appellation, our farm-to-fork dining culture, our walkable historic downtown, and the authentic atmosphere of a California agricultural community that has held onto its soul. Moka by Sarai is exactly that kind of draw — listed on Visit Lodi’s official directory and discovered by visitors who came for the wine and stayed for the stores. A vibrant Sacramento Street corridor feeds foot traffic to School Street; a flourishing downtown feeds our hotel occupancy tax; that tax funds city services. These connections are the practical architecture of a resilient, fiscally sustainable local economy.

You’re Invited

As we close out National Small Business Month, I am asking every Lodian to make at least one deliberate choice each week to shop, dine, or otherwise buy locally — and to make one of those choices on Sacramento Street. Visit Moka by Sarai. Customize a charm necklace or bracelet that tells your story. As Saraí puts it, her goal is “to create a space where people feel inspired, where local dreams are celebrated, and where every person who walks through Moka’s doors leaves with something more than jewelry — they leave with a memory.” Tell Saraí her work matters — because it does. And while you’re there, look up and down that block: The Local Collective, Her Pretty Things, Fuego Prime Taqueria, Idol Beer Works, Estate Crush.

Consider what else could be there.

Our small business owners have bet their savings, their time, and their futures on Lodi. The most powerful thing we can do is show up for them in return.

Happy Small Business Month, Lodi. Shop Local. Let’s make it count.