Tougo Coffee at 18th and Union just got a little bit smaller, but the downsize is making space for a new store selling locally-designed and consigned kids clothing.
Magpie will feature kids clothes designed by Malia Keene (who, full disclosure, happens to be this reporter’s landlord). The shop will also sell kids clothing on consignment.
While Magpie will sell for all ages from birth to eight, the focus will be on clothes for kids in hard-to-find ages, said Keene.
“We have a six-year-old and there’s nothing,” she said of the selection of clothing she has found available for her child. So she makes the clothes herself.
Keene has been thinking about starting a shop for a long time, and when the space next to Tougo Coffee became available, they jumped on it. Tougo closed for a few days in January due to financial issues. It reopened after a drive to raise the $10,000 they needed to continue operating.
Tougo is keeping the kids play area in the back and the bathrooms. Magpie will have a work space for sewing and a retail space.
Aside from items for sale on consignment, Magpie is also looking for people who make kids toys. Other items that could fit in the shop include homemade bath products, such as diaper cream or bubble bath soap.
The shop hopes to be open by mid-July. You can contact Malia Keene via email at [email protected].
UPDATE: Tougo owner Brian Wells said the idea behind renting the space to a shop is to help revitalize the retail core near the old TT Minor School.
“It has more to do with building synergy with the business district that used to exist” and is not related to Tougo’s drive to raise $10,000 earlier this year, he said.
