ReInvent, a local gift shop, is getting a new coat of paint.
ReInvent, located on 420 S. Gay St., sells gifts created from recycled products. The store was opened by Sophia Graham in 2009 as a way to share her style with the community.
"Any time I would go to find a gift in town, everything was usually orange and blue or monogrammed, and there just weren't funky or unique things, so I would always order my things offline from places like Urban Outfitters," Graham said.
This month, ReInvent reduced all merchandise by 50 percent and announced it would close.
Graham said the store would reopen, selling shirts and gifts created by Mammoth Printshop.
"It's been fun," Graham said. "We don't have to close. Everyone coming in says, 'So sorry,' but this is by choice."
Graham, along with her screen-printer husband Eric, opened Mammoth Printshop, Auburn-Opelika area's largest screen printing company in 2003. The print shop currently occupies a 20,000 square-foot warehouse in the Auburn Industrial Park, but Graham said they wanted to open another smaller store in town.
"We've had Mammoth for so long, so I felt that it would be really good to have more of a presence in the community," Graham said.
They chose to stay at the Shops at Southside because it is peaceful and away from the rush of downtown.
"I think the fact that they decided to close the business they were doing, but not leave the block, speaks to the fact that we have a community," said Tina Tatum, owner of neighboring Gnu's Room.
The Mammoth store will join two other newcomers in the Shops at Southside: Tavita's Heart and Mama Mocha's.
Tavita's Heart specializes in yarn and other cozy crafts and Mama Mocha's coffee roastery sells coffees roasted and blended by owner Sarah Barnett.
"I was really sad to see ReInvent go," Barnett said. "However, I know whatever they do there is going to be phenomenal. They are always really progressive in the way they do business and always looking for new and innovative things to showcase."
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