Urban Outfitters on Guadalupe Street reopened its doors for a soft opening Thursday after a little over a week of renovations.
Urban Outfitters bought the space formerly occupied by Mellow Mushroom and Manju’s to open a new men’s clothing store and a courtyard which will have a space for food trucks, an outdoor seating area, restaurants — Pizzeria Vetri and Symon’s Burger Joint — and a place for events and live music. The new, expanded area is called Space 24 Twenty and is only one of three “lifestyle” store formats operated by Urban Outfitters in the United States.
Rachel Albright, director of creative marketing and content for Urban Outfitters, said she hopes to see the new space blend into the Austin atmosphere and become a part of the UT community’s everyday life.
“It’s really a space for people to gather,” Albright said. “We want the community at UT to hang out here between classes and come to our events and hang out in the courtyard and meet other people like them and meet some designers they might be really into.”
The men’s clothing store occupies 3,161 square feet, Pizzeria Vetri occupies 2,739 square feet and Symon’s Burger Joint occupies about 4,000 square feet. In total, Urban Outfitters is taking up about half an acre of land. Urban Outfitters declined to comment on the cost of the renovations.
Although Urban Outfitters wants to fit into the daily lives of students, psychology sophomore Kayla Doherty said she thinks a lot of students are angry that Urban Outfitters is taking up a huge space that used to belong to other popular locations.
“I miss Mellow Mushroom, what the heck?” Doherty said. “I hope this burger joint is good at least because I like burgers, but I hate Urban. I think Urban has like shitty clothes, not good material and is overpriced.”
Albright said Urban Outfitters is not trying to take over the Drag, but instead wants to create a place everyone loves, a message she hopes resonates with the community — especially after the grand opening on Dec. 4.
“We’re not trying to take anything away. We didn’t force anyone out,” Albright said. “There were some empty lots, and we took them, and we definitely want to create a space for people to hang out so hopefully all the people who think that will like hanging out here.”
David Aguirre, marketing and anthropology freshman, said he is really impressed with how the new place turned out and is excited there is finally a place designated for men to buy clothes on the Drag.
“I think its really modern, really trendy, really cool,” Aguirre said. “I think this is really adding to the Drag, putting up new places instead of going to the same places over and over again.”
Although the renovations are new, Albright said she hopes Austin will turn Space 24 Twenty into a place that feels local and feels like home.
“We want to provide a place for local people to come and sell their own things, and all of the events we’re doing are with local people and artists,” Albright said. “We want to work with everyone and we want to know everyone.”
