Austin’s Tesoros Trading Company is closing on South Congress

Tesoros Buying and selling Firm — an area treasure that has offered artisan crafts from world wide for greater than three a long time — is closing its South Congress retailer.

Not like many small retailers which have left South Congress Avenue due to skyrocketing lease, house owners Jonathan Williams and Kisla Jimenez mentioned they’re merely able to “retire” the store and deal with various things.

“We’re so grateful for the chance to have the enterprise in Austin, and for the reception that we’ve got acquired,” Jimenez mentioned. “We actually hand-selected every little thing we offered, and we really cherished seeing the enjoyment and the creativity of native artisans. It has been gratifying to assist that craftmanship and to encourage the manufacturing of handmade issues.”

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The shop’s final day at 1500 S. Congress Ave. might be June 26. Williams and Jimenez mentioned they’ll then focus on wholesale and on-line gross sales, with occasional pop-up shops, together with a deliberate sales space on the Texas E-book Competition in November.

The subsequent tenant to maneuver into the house, which has been dwelling to native retailers for many years, might be Tecovas, the Austin-based maker of cowboy boots and western put on. Tecovas, which raised $56 million this 12 months to broaden nationally, will shut its present retailer at 1333 S. Congress Ave. to make the transfer to the brand new website. 

In the meantime, Tesoros will proceed to promote to retailers across the nation, with museum retailers being a major buyer, Jimenez mentioned.

“It wasn’t the lease; after 35 years, it was the correct time,” Jimenez mentioned. “In the long run, it is all good. However we will miss individuals. We are going to miss them a lot.”

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Williams began the import enterprise from his storage, promoting crafts he introduced again from travels to Peru. In 1989, Tesoros opened in downtown Austin in a former print retailer at Second Road and Congress Avenue — a location now dwelling to the JW Marriott Austin lodge. 

The enterprise moved to its present dwelling 15 years in the past. The 4,000-square-foot retailer sells quite a lot of people artwork, jewellery, clothes, furnishings and textiles from greater than 30 international locations together with Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the US and Vietnam.

“It has been very gratifying to offer merchandise that enchantment to such a variety of individuals,” Jimenez mentioned. “For us, it is the range of merchandise but in addition the vary of value factors. Yow will discover one thing from 25 cents to 1000’s of {dollars}.”

Over time, the store has constructed a loyal following from Austin, throughout Texas and world wide, Jimenez mentioned. 

“We’re clearly enterprise individuals, and we’re very grateful to have made a dwelling out of this. What propels us is to introduce individuals to completely different cultures and to encourage the continuation of the way in which that people artwork and handmade issues signify a tradition,” she mentioned. “We’ve got labored with generations of artisan households, and we sit up for proceed doing so.”

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‘They are going to be deeply missed’

Longtime prospects are mourning the Tesoros closure.

“They created a neighborhood that introduced collectively individuals and artisans from all around the world,” mentioned Sharon Smith, an Austin resident who has been visiting the shop for years. “There’s a sense of loss. There isn’t any different place like this, that related so many individuals. They might be deeply missed.”

Like most retailers, Tesoros took successful from the coronavirus pandemic. Jimenez mentioned it affected each component of the enterprise, together with staffing and importing merchandise. 

“The pandemic hit everyone, and we needed to lay off 11 individuals, which was actually laborious to do,” Jimenez mentioned. “We have been very grateful that our core group of 5 or 6 individuals got here again. We rent part-timers, faculty college students, inventive individuals. Once we advised them we have been going to do that, they understood. They’re fantastic with it and can go on to massive issues.”

She added, “The pandemic has confirmed that we have all reevaluated what we’re doing.”