Wine and salsa dancing. Hair styling and puppet theater. Yoga and fine dining.

At first glance, each of these pairs might seem like an odd couple. But for a number of downtown businesses, such combinations could be the key to their success, and the future of downtown.

As the economy stumbles, several independent businesses are stepping up creative marketing efforts to build a community around their stores. Doing so now might be a matter of survival, and could lead to prosperity when the downturn ends.

“We are taking action,” said Leilani Slack of Bloom Creative Hair Salon, who moved her main salon space earlier this year and has since opened an annex. “You have to just get off your chair and do something about it instead of complaining about it.”

Ariel Ceja runs Ceja Vineyard’s downtown tasting room at 1248 First St. He’s not waiting for customers to wander in. The tasting room hosts art displays, live music, fundraisers and, on Saturday nights, Salsa dancing. “Anything we can do to be proactive and inspire people, we are going to do that,” Ceja said. “Downtown is still a ways away in foot traffic to pull in the numbers to make everyone happy.”

Catching the interest of downtown visitors is essential, he said. Shoppers comment on “dead” blocks of First Street. Boarded up storefronts look ugly. “A lot mention that there’s not much open after 6 p.m. and not enough to sustain nightlife,” Ceja said.

“They appreciate the fact that there are 18 or 19 tasting rooms and the choice of restaurants. They just wish there was more to do for nightlife.”

As for sales, “We’re doing OK,” Ceja said. “It can always be better.”

Slack’s salon launched on Main Street, but a few blocks north of the downtown core. She moved down to Pearl and Main, and then opened a second salon a stone’s throw away on Pearl.

“Just three blocks has made a huge difference in putting us on the map,” she said. “Now everyone knows where we are.”

Bloom is about more than just hair, she said. The salon is offering music and art displays along with blowouts and highlights. Art and entertainment has increased business, she said. “It’s broadened our client base to people that might not have even thought to come here.”

On First Street near City Hall and the new Avia hotel, Sala Salon opened in June. “The name means living room or meeting room and we’re taking that to heart,” Sandina Bailo, co-owner, said. Last month, the salon presented a puppet theater performance called “The Barbie Diaries.”

Besides theater, art, and special events for both men and women, “We’re trying to rethink what is a salon all about. And it’s not all about women primping. Salon, art, community — let’s do it,” said Bailo.

“People are starting to come back downtown,” said Bailo. “And we want to be one of the reasons they do.”

Steve Carlin, who launched Oxbow Public Market, is taking steps to draw business to his end of downtown. The market opened in December 2007 with five tenants. Faced with a struggling economy, the shutdown of neighboring Copia and a 15-month closure of the nearby First Street bridge, Carlin quickly learned he’d have to adjust expectations.

Oxbow has become more “event-oriented” than he would have imagined, said Carlin.

Today, the market features more than 20 tenants and a variety of promotions to draw in visitors. Tuesday Locals Night, when most merchants offer discounts, is a creative approach to tough times that is increasing foot traffic. Now the market offers music on a new stage three nights a week. At a recent Sunday night jazz event, “It was hopping,” Carlin said.

While traditional businesses branch out, one non-traditional business has made a huge splash.

When Sandy Lawrence’s gourmet vegetarian restaurant and yoga studio Ubuntu first opened, some people might have scratched their heads at the concept of combining food and a demanding physical discipline.

But with risk came reward. Ubuntu has garnered rave reviews from newspapers around the country, drawing visitors from the Bay Area and beyond.

In July, Lawrence decided to expand her business, taking on an adjacent space to sell retail products and some packaged foods and wine. “The annex was a tough decision in this market, but we felt we wanted to do it,” she said. “People who come to the restaurant — a lot of them like to take something back with them.”

Lawrence would like more company in the heart of downtown. “There’s not quite enough people here yet. I would love to see the empty storefronts rented and other business taking the risk to come here and landlords attracting good quality businesses.”

Quent Cordair Fine Art gallery owner Linda Cordair isn’t just courting shoppers, she’s engaging other downtown merchants to build business.

“In today’s environment you have to work with your fellow merchants and present the best possible downtown experience,” said Cordair. She’s partnered with the Avia hotel to display art, initiated local shopping promotions and offered tours of her gallery. Cordair also started an online forum for local business owners. “We have had nearly 1,000 conversations in a year,” she said. “Those have gone a long way to creating some wonderful relationships downtown.”

Hard work pays off, she said. “Those with the zest and zeal to survive have reached out to customers, banded together, and I think the results are obvious. Some really exciting things are going to happen downtown. It’s right around the corner.”

Register reporter Kevin Courtney contributed to this story.