Stockist Spotlight: The Mall / Austin, Texas

Photo of co-owner and Girl Crush pal, Lindsay Eyth // Photos by Wendy Stumman

What's the name of your shop? Where are you located? Tell us about y'all!

The Mall is a colorful converted 1950s trailer with major 1990s mall vibes in East Austin, Texas. We sell a mix of art and artist goods ranging from an incredible Dan Lam sculpture to a gorgeous selection of zines, pins (the best flair section in Austin), and killer accessories. We even have augmented reality press-on nails!

We're at 916 Springdale Rd (behind Sa-Tén Coffee) and we're open from noon to 7, Thursday through Sunday.

How long have you been around?

We opened in November 2016!

What's your favorite thing about being a small biz owner?

The Mall is run by artists, for artists. We love the autonomy that comes with being small, and the ability to adapt to best serve the artist community we're trying to benefit, without any red tape or asking for our boss's permission. We also love being surrounded by rad shit.

What's your favorite thing to buy for your store? How has the shop allowed you to discover new artists/product?

We love meeting new artists and hearing what they're excited about, more than anything, and we both really love our sculpture section. As a duo, we probably have the most fun digging through artist-made pins and other flair, and debating which designs to order.

Individually, Lindsay loves to shop for nudie mags and flair that's either REALLY MEAN or sexually explicit, whereas Zac is a dork who lives to curate our record and tape selection.

Why did you want to open your store? What was your mission/intention?
Our mission is to help artists make a living, with a particular investment in women artists, queer artists, and artists of color, and to create an exciting and beautiful environment to show off their work. Beyond that, we want to be a social and educational hub for the community of artists and culture-makers that feel a connection to The Mall.

But mostly we opened The Mall because there's nothing like it and we thought it'd be fun.