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It's a Boutique Kind of Town
Because Austinist likes to spend money on things we don't need we recently took a trip to some newish stores on S. 1st. You may have noticed that cutesy pie shops seem to be popping up everywhere these days. Who needs malls when there are so many cute boutiques?
Love, Tryst, Kick Pleat, Sabia, and Shag (a salon) are all in a nice little row right around the corner from Barton Springs Rd.
Sabia features a host of apothecary delights. I can't say for sure, but they seem to have the largest selection of Kiehls merchandise in Austin. Can we afford anything at Sabia? No. Maybe a packet of bath salts. Maybe.
So we go to Kick Pleat. The attractive salesperson swoops in and says something something sale something something. We are pointed to a sales rack. We cannot afford anything on the sales rack. Not even after a month of ramen noodles. And even if we could afford it, we would not fit into any of it. And even if we could fit into any of it, our significant other would laugh at us and think we were trying too hard to be Britney Spears. It's trendy, yes. And expensive, natch. There are people in Austin who would eat this stuff up, and do, we suppose. We are t-shirt and khakis people. We leave, our heads hung low. We know and the sales chick knows: we should never have stepped inside.
So then why do we even bother with Tryst, another über-trendy house of fashion way out of our league? Well, 'cause we are brave like that. And the show must go on. We spend exactly 20 seconds in Tryst. The guy at the counter doesn't even bother to pretend he cares about our presence. Not that we mind.
Love, ah sweet sweet Love. Now here is a store we can browse. There are candles and frames and cool art and fun t-shirts. We almost buy some placemats and then we remember we are trying to curb our consumerism and only buy things we need or REALLY REALLY REALLY love. We like these placemats, but we don't love them. Heck, we never even remember to use placemats, though we wish we were nice placemat kind of folk, we really do. Who doesn't enjoy a nice placemat? Of course, that's what Pier One is for.
Shag. We got our hair cut there once. It was okay. Nice people. Great decor--especially the bathroom. And we really appreciated the wide selection of reading material offered in the waiting room. It's not everyday one gets to peruse Inns of America.
All in all, it's not a bad diversion on a Saturday afternoon. Perhaps if you have some time to kill and cash to burn. God, you are so LA.
