Yay! I'm so pleased to bring you a little tour of the brick and mortar version of one of my favorite online shops (I've featured it here many times before!), Little Otsu! Located in San Francisco's Mission District, Little Otsu is a cute little shop selling their own paper products along with other artist goods, owned by the oh so sweet Jeremy & Yvonne who actually live here in Portland, OR! Let's take a peek around look, shall we? (*be sure to click "continue reading" at the break for the full tour!)
What is the name of your shop and where is it located? How long have you been in business?
Little
Otsu is located in San Francisco's Mission District on Valencia Street
between 19th and 20th. We've been in business since 2002.
Our most abundant items are from our own line of Little Otsu paper goods: planners, journals, cards, calendars, and more. We also sell a selection of goods from friends and fellow small businesses. We have illustrated books, prints and small paintings, stationery, t-shirts, handmade wallets, buttons, bags, vegan cookbooks. A sampling of the companies we carry includes Animal Sleep Stories, Mittenmaker, Studio on Fire, RandL, Edelweiss Greetings, Drawn & Quarterly, Sycamore Street Press, Big Stone Head, Honeylux, La Mano, Fugu Fugu Press, Burgundy & Brown, The Small Object, Narwhal Co., Papered Together, McSweeney's, Boygirlparty, and Zum.

What price range do you carry?
Everything in the Little Otsu catalog is under $18 and most everything else is under $40.

Do accept artist submissions for your products? If so, what's the best way for them to approach you?
What is the best thing about owning your own shop? And the worst?
Being responsible for your own livelihood is pretty awesome and rewarding. On the flip side, it can be daunting and all-consuming. It's a competitive marketplace and it can be tough to keep things unique, but ultimately, by spending time creating our own products, we can't help but keep things interesting. It's great getting to promote good people and things to the public.
What is one lesson you can pass down to future shop-keeps who are just getting started?
Especially in these tough financial times, we can't emphasize enough that you should keep your fixed costs low. Be creative in keeping your expenses down and that will greatly increase your chances of success.
Thank you so much for sharing Yvonne & Jeremy! You have some awesome insights and an adorable shop to boot!
Be sure to visit Little Otsu next time you're in San Francisco- and to feed the need in the meantime, you can visit their online shop anytime!
I love Little Otsu! I could go crazy in there :)
Posted by: chicadecanela | Aug 18, 2008 at 12:12 PM