Shopping Districts, Shopping Centers & Shopping Alliances

The Austin Independent Business Alliance (AIBA) is a nonprofit organization of locally owned and operated independent businesses that have joined together to promote the cultural and economic benefits of shopping locally. AIBA distributes a directory of members, provides networking and business development opportunties for members and sponsors local business districts designed to create shopping destinations, social gathering places and centers for neighborhood culture. A searchable database with website links to member businesses is available on the AIBA website.

Located off Guadalupe Street across from the University of Texas, the 23rd Street Renaissance Market began as a spontaneous sidewalk gathering of artisans 1969 and today has evolved into a landscaped plaza maintained by the City of Austin with approximately 90 local artists and artisans selling handcrafted originals including jewelry, original art, apparel, candles, leather goods and whimsical items. The Market is open every day with the best selection on weekends. The market mural, painted by local artists in the early 1970s including Kerry Awn, Michael Priest and Jim Franklin, offers a humorous pictoral view of the strange and wonderful people and places that are the cultural history of Austin. Refurbished in 2002, the mural has been updated to include caricatures of more recent celebrities, including a Michael Dell selling computers on the sidewalk and Matthew McConaughey running naked through the streets with his bongo drums.