There’s a company, based in Austin, I’m guessing, and I was wondering if the corporate culture, that special intangible feeling, really does translate outside of Austin.
The location, it’s a little more upscale and swanky that I would prefer, but when I’m on the road, what the hell, and I was just poking around in the store. An Austin-based chain. Just a few outlets, not really that big of deal, except that the Austin sensibility seems to have infused itself in the company’s culture.
I made a single purchase, just adding to the travel gear that I regularly use, and the girl behind the counter allowed as how she had just moved, apparently with the company, from Austin to San Antonio.
I elicited a chuckle with my comment about the Tex-Mex being better in San Antonio.
“Yeah, where’s you favorite place,” she asked.
I dryly suggested that place with the handmade tortillas.
Roll of the eyes.
But my little interchange did nothing to convey the true humor and sentiment of the store. In the “mountain boot fitting” area, there were four male employees. One hackey sack. Saturday night, the manager, possibly the oldest alpha male there, all of about 30 years (my guess) old, leading a game of “toss the foot bag.”
It’s definitely an Austin tradition, suitably exported.
