The internationally diverse Tesoros Trading Co. is shutting down its South Congress Avenue store after more than 30 years as a fixture on the popular shopping and dining strip.
“After 33 years on Congress Avenue, the Tesoros store is retiring!” the store proclaimed in an Instagram post accompanied by a colorful graphic that declared, “Store Retiring!”
One Instagram commenter said of the news: “Whoa! The end of an era.”
Although the 4,000-square-foot store is “retiring,” Tesoros will still operate its online and wholesale businesses.
Through mid-June, Tesoros is conducting a store-closing sale, with half-off prices on items like scarves, sarongs, block-printed textiles, indigo rugs, hammocks, books, and Vietnamese dishes. The store’s furniture and displays also are being sold.
Tesoros is a retailer and wholesale distributor of handmade gifts, folk art, jewelry, clothing, and textiles from more than 30 countries, including Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the U.S., and Vietnam.
The store opened in 1989. Jonathan Williams and Kisla Jimenez are the owners.
For many years, Tesoros has been a go-to destination for local residents and out-of-town tourists alike. Reviews of the store appear on a slew of websites.
“It’s difficult to think of a more colorful shop in Austin than this South Congress mainstay. … There’s plenty of one-of-a-kind objects like Peruvian retalbos dioramas, but the store has even more shelves devoted to affordable treasures like coin purses, woven bracelets, and paper roses,” a reviewer wrote on the Time Out website.
