Shops throughout downtown Pleasanton have begun decorating their stores with many St. Patrick’s Day specials. Although there is the Brew Crawl which happens yearly on the evening of March 17, individual stores have already begun celebrating the lucky day in their own ways.

“We start putting up the St. Patrick’s Day decorations about a week after Valentine’s Day just because we try and always have something up in the store for a different holiday. We get them out pretty quickly just because we find that it brings more people in if we’re a little more festive,” said Soraia Bohner (‘22), a part-time employee at Murphy’s Paw.

The typical four-leaf clovers and pots of gold are a staple during the St. Patrick’s holiday. Stores also celebrate the holiday by adding new items that match the cheery mood to their shelves for the month.

“We have different St. Patrick’s designs and products each year because the brands come out with something different every year, and we look for something different and unique as well. The designs typically come out towards the end of February… and we just try to put up the new products and designs as soon as possible,” said Kelly, manager of Prim Boutique.

The variety of new designs and ideas not only attracts more customers, but also gives downtown a more lively feel overall. The streets and shops of Pleasanton are brightened up with all sorts of decorations that contribute to the celebrations and festivities.

“We put up several St. Patrick’s specials each year. There’s Irish soda bread, we have corn-beef turnovers, which are more of a morning savory special, and we have a bunch of different cupcakes with fun icings and colors, as well as shamrock shortbread cookies.” said Hayley, an employee at Primrose Bakery.

Decked out in green, stores enjoy getting creative for holidays, and additional menu specials and store products light up the overall ambiance of downtown.

“Usually, we start decorating and putting up the fun flavors on the first day of March and we keep them up for pretty much the whole month of March. We just like to have a fun selection of different things to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day” said Hayley.