Souvenir shop stocks crafts and novelties

Each December, many Austinites looking for the perfect present descend upon Austin Gift Company.

The store—one of the only souvenir places in the city, owner Mike Lopez said—carries a wide variety of Austin- and Texas-themed mugs, T-shirts and home goods.

It also has dozens of booths at which local vendors sell handmade crafts, jewelry and collectibles.

"If you don't need it, we have it," he said jokingly.

Lopez opened the store in 2000 as a place for local vendors to sell their wares year-round. Today the store is split into a booth section and a section with more conventional souvenirs.

Austin Gift Company leases its 125 booths to vendors for six months at a time. The vendors, many of them local, use to space to sell wall art, home decor and accessories, among other items.

On the souvenir side, the store sells Capital City–centric novelties, such as "Keep Austin Weird" and "Come and Take It" hats, "Don't Mess with Texas" T-shirts and prickly pear cactus jelly.

Austin Gift Company features a variety of University of Texas and Texas A&M University gear for sale.

The business grew by word of mouth, and Lopez kept expanding the store to meet demand. Last November, Lopez grew the store from 5,000 to 8,000 square feet.

Lopez will do 40 percent of his business between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, he said.

"On a normal day, we may see 100 customers," he said. "In mid-December, there'll be 800 to 1,000 people here a day."

He credits the store's success to customer service.

"If you cannot find it, we'll special order it for you. We do what we can to keep the customer happy," he said.

Keeping it local

The following local vendors' products are available at Austin Gift Company

• Hill Country Haiku soaps and shea butter, www.hillcountryhaiku.com
• Lotsa Shimmer glass art and jewelry, www.etsy.com/shop/lotsashimmer
• South Austin Gallery art, www.southaustingallery.com
• South Austin People soap and bath products, www.southaustinpeople.com

Last-minute gift ideas

• "Trailer Food Diaries Cookbook, Austin Edition, Vol. 1" by Tiffany Harelik
• "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings from the Road" by Willie Nelson
• Christmas pickle ornaments
• Embroidered Texas-themed throw pillow
• Berdoll's Famous Pecan Pie
• "I love you so much" and "You're my butter half" coasters and prints

Festive decorations

Staffers keep Austin Gift Company looking festive. For Halloween, employees set up a grim reaper to monitor its guest book. For Thanksgiving, the centerpiece near the front door was a wine bottle made to look like a turkey. For December, the store set up its inverted Christmas tree.

Booths for rent

Austin Gift Company leases booth space in its store to arts and crafts vendors, according to the store's website.

Prices range from $69 to $169 for a six-month lease.

For more information, contact [email protected].

Austin Gift Company, 4211 S. Lamar Blvd., Ste. A-19, 512-326-9460, www.austingiftcompany.com, www.facebook.com/austingiftco, Hours: Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Sun. noon–6 p.m.