Lemondrop Closes in Upper Village

Roughly two years after opening their doors to the Montecito community during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lemondrop, Montecito’s only shop catering to pre-teens or “tweens” has closed. The shop was owned by Montecito mom of four, Ana Rudnicki, who opened the shop in 2021 to give parents a place to take their pre-teens to try on clothes and shoes, rather than shop online and make returns if the fit wasn’t right. 

The shop was located on the corner of East Valley and San Ysidro roads, where Village Frame & Gallery was for decades. “Having four kids of my own, I know that kids reach an age where you can’t just buy them something online and hope they like it or hope it fits. Kids want to try stuff on, make sure they like it, and pick out their own clothes,” Rudnicki told us at the time, saying that the store opened after the closure of several downtown retailers, including Nordstrom. The shop offered clothing, shoes, bathing suits, toys, and accessories, as well as a self-care section that featured nail polish, hairbrushes, lotions, body glitter, soaps, and more. 

While the original plan was to continue the business online, those plans have been put on hold, for now. For the latest updates from the company, follow @lemondropsb on Instagram. 

 It is rumored that the space will be home to an antique store, which is moving from elsewhere in the Upper Village. We’ll have more in a future edition.