Women’s boutique Miss Behavin is scheduled to open on The Drag during the first weekend of October. It will be located at the former storefront of ice cream sandwich store Moojo.

The boutique, which will feature Los Angeles-inspired clothing, is currently under construction near the intersection of 23rd and Guadalupe streets. When trying to decide between opening a new location in Nashville, Tennessee, or Austin, Miss Behavin general manager Haley Hydrick said the store considered how saturated Nashville already is with stores just like them.

“We don’t want our girls to have to drive far out of the way to shop,” Hydrick said. “We want it to be easy access.” 

Miss Behavin decided on Guadalupe Street rather than on South Congress or the Domain because of its proximity to UT students. 

“This past summer, we hit the pavement and talked to girls on The Drag,” Hydrick said. “We asked them if they would choose to shop at our store over online shopping. They all said that they definitely would.”

Hydrick said the clothes sold by the store, which include crop tops and skorts, will appeal to college women. 

“I have been trying to find new places to shop at in Austin,” said Kate Kiehne, health and society freshman. “I’m really excited about this new boutique because I live right off Guad.”

Laurie Gardiner, former catering manager of Moojo, said the company was struggling financially and closed in November 2018 after the building’s rent was raised. Gardiner said she doesn’t know why the storefront stayed vacant for so long. 

“Even if the rent would have just been raised a little bit, we would have been continually paying rent this whole time,” Gardiner said. “But instead, (it’s been) almost a year without any income off that property.”

Currently, there is only one boutique on The Drag — C. Jane, which sits on The Drag three doors down from the future location of Miss Behavin. C. Jane owner Kat Key said the store has been on Guadalupe Street for 13 years. 

“The more open storefronts, the better,” Key said. “Guad isn’t very desirable right now with the boarded-up businesses and graffiti.” 

Miss Behavin has spoken to other potential businesses that want to open more spaces for students on The Drag.

“We hope that our store can be the beginning of a facelift for Guad,” Hydrick said.