Building

So many people have asked us about the origins of the Mount Blackmore mural on the side of our building that I decided to blog about it. The mural was created in 2007 by kids from local schools mentored by local street artist J Muzacz and was funded by a grant from the City of Austin and Doherty Arts Center's Totally Cool, Totally Art Program.

More photos: Mount Blackmore 2 / Mount Blackmore 3

J also created the mural that is on the side of our neighbor, The Black Butterfly and the trailer for Deloney Street Community Gardens, which is currently on our lot.

Photos: Black Butterfly / Trailer 1 / Trailer 2

Some of you may have noticed that construction work has finally begun on the front of the building where it was damaged by the August fire. This may result in some irregular store hours between Monday, October 14th and Saturday, October 20th, so we recommend that you call the store on 512-524-2820 to see if we're open.

Here's what happened - "Treasure City Thrift Catchs FIRE" blog entry

What is being repaired? - well, our two side doors are being closed up and we are getting double glass doors installed at the front of the store as our new main entrance. White stone facia is replacing the existing brown plastic stone and the building interior and exterior are being brightly painted. It's a welcome face-lift.

Exciting stuff is happening at Treasure City!

First, we got a new sign! Thank you to J Muzacz, the artist. We are very grateful for the visibility it provides, and it looks splendid.

Second, Treasure City was featured in Whoopsy! newspaper's "Low-Rent Shopping" guide in Issue 19, in November, on pg. 13. An awesome quote from the articles says, ""You should shop here [at Treasure City] because (1) East 12th Street really needs this kind of low-price, high-community-reinvestment business, and (2) Treasure City Thrift is a perfect example of how to "act locally" to beat global imperialism." We couldn't agree more! Thanks Whoopsy! :-)

Third, our first volunteer orientation was very well attended, and we're always happy to have the help. If you'd like to volunteer with us, we'll have another volunteer orientation in December. Check back later this week for the date & time info. Thanks so much to those volunteers who have been instrumental to the first month of success for Treasure City. We love you guys!

Treasure City Thrift is looking for muralists to cover all of our newly white walls! If you're interested, please e-mail us. We are planning on providing the materials for murals and are open to your creativity. Here are some photos (we're also looking for muralists for the outside walls which are sort of a tan color).

Inside the main area

The Bay Area (a warehouse type space connected to the main building)

Front of the store

Scott singing along to Barbara Streisand.

Thanks to the hard work of volunteers last week, the building was ready to be painted by Saturday. As you can see in the picture below, Scott and Brandon were ready to take on the paint sprayer. Unfortunately, the paint sprayer didn't agree.

Karly and her pup came by to supervise.

And Josh worked on details...

The progress so far is amazing. It's great to see everyone working together to make this a success. If you'd like to volunteer, please send an e-mail to info at treasurecitythrift dot org. We'll be sending out a new schedule each week. See you soon!