A new shop at 2055 S. Lamar Blvd. wants South Austin shoppers to slow down. Obi, a hybrid gallery and retail space centered on photo and art books, records, and rare objects, began its soft opening this week, with doors open noon to 7 pm on October 2 through 4 and again October 9 through 11.
Two Creative Veterans Behind the Concept
Obi was founded by documentary photographer Michael Magers and co-founded by creative director Sergio Alcocer, according to CultureMap Austin. Magers built his reputation as lead photographer for the travel books Rice, Noodle, Fish and Grape, Olive, Pig, published through Anthony Bourdain's imprint at HarperCollins in partnership with Roads & Kingdoms, per Meer. Bourdain himself was a partner and investor in Roads & Kingdoms, the editorial group for which Magers shot multiple international travel books, according to the Heritage Radio Network.
Alcocer brings his own decades-deep résumé to the project. LatinWorks received five Multicultural Agency of the Year awards from AdAge and Adweek, according to foundingAUSTIN. He later launched the Austin creative agency Rest of the World in January 2017 as a boutique shop focused on social impact and multicultural branding, per Adlatina. Alcocer founded Rest of the World, which is described as an Austin agency focused on human-led brand building for challenger brands and has worked on the HBO documentary Diego Maradona, capturing the artifacts, images, mythology, and devotion surrounding the soccer legend, per CultureMap Austin's reporting. Alcocer has also presented six times on the main stage at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and served twice as a Cannes Lions award juror, according to Rest of the World's own agency site.
Why the Name Obi, and Why It Fits the Inventory
The shop's name nods to two meanings: the sash worn with traditional Japanese clothing and the paper bands wrapped around many Japanese records and books, per CultureMap Austin. Japanese record labels began wrapping those paper obi strips around vinyl pressings in the 1960s to carry album details and localized marketing in Japanese; because the fragile sashes were so often discarded, intact vintage vinyl with original obi strips now commands premium prices among collectors worldwide, according to Vinyl Vault. Obi's shelves will include exactly those kinds of Japanese record and book pressings, alongside photo and art books and other rare and unique objects, CultureMap Austin reports.
Magers has visited Japan 26 times over 14 years, including a recent three-week trip, and sources much of the shop's unique inventory through contacts he's built there, according to the outlet. His interest in Japanese craftsmanship runs deep: his documentary focus on Japanese artisans, or shokunin, began while photographing knife makers in Sakai, Japan — a globally renowned center of centuries-old hand-forged cutlery traditions — a project that made him a finalist for the 2016 Critical Mass photography awards, per the Kyoto Journal. Magers has documented craftsmanship around the world for almost 15 years, working primarily in black-and-white photography, and published his debut monograph, Independent Mysteries, in November 2019 through Hatje Cantz, featuring black-and-white images from Japan, Cuba and Haiti alongside contributions from Japanese tattoo artist Horiren 1st and musician Matthew Shultz, according to All About Photo.
A Space Built for Browsing, Not Buying Fast
Obi selects objects for close attention rather than quick turnover and aims to give shoppers a place to browse and examine craftsmanship, per CultureMap Austin. Magers and Alcocer wanted to bring that craftsmanship-focused ethos into the shop itself, and the store displays fixtures made with craftspeople whose work Magers wants to showcase. Wall space is used to complement the displayed work, and the shop can pair book signings with artists' photographs, the outlet reports.
Magers described some of his favorite travel experiences as moments of walking into a shop without knowing what he was looking for and leaving with something he had no idea existed, per CultureMap Austin — a philosophy that shapes what the outlet calls Obi's promotion of slow discovery. Magers also writes In Practice Journal, a Substack about makers, materials and process that has featured a Kyoto ceramic artist, a bamboo weaver, and a Japanese papermaker. Obi posts updates through Instagram at @obiatx.
Another New Tenant in a Changing Retail Strip
Obi's arrival adds to a run of turnover along the South Lamar retail corridor. Before Obi took over the storefront at 2055 S. Lamar Blvd., the space housed Fanm Djanm, a headwrap and lifestyle boutique that used the address for studio operations and community events in 2023, including open mic nights, according to CultureMap Austin's events coverage. Just steps away, the nearby Patika coffee shop at 2159 S. Lamar Blvd. closed in October 2024 due to rising rents, a space later taken over this year by the bagel shop Nervous Charlie's third Austin shop, as Hoodline previously reported. The corridor has increasingly attracted boutique culinary and specialized retail concepts even as commercial rents squeeze out longer-standing tenants, per that same reporting.
