Before Odd Luck had a storefront on Washington Street, it had a house. "Our house was taken over with vintage," co-owner Courtney Davidhizar told The Daily Iowan about the years when she and Kaitlyn Amborn sold clothes on Etsy and ran pop-ups on the Pedestrian Mall and with Iowa City Flea. On Saturday, Oct. 10, that inventory moved into 112 E. Washington St., the former Heim space, and the shop held its grand opening the same day.
Several of downtown Iowa City's newest shops reached their storefronts in steps: a market table, then an online shop, then a borrowed storefront, then a lease. The holiday season that starts next month is when downtown runs those early steps at its largest scale.
Six years of tables before one lease
According to the Iowa City Downtown District's announcement, Odd Luck ran part-time for six years. It popped up at events like the Iowa City Flea and in Austin, Texas, launched a mobile coffee cart in May, and spent the past year working out of a small warehouse on the south side. The Daily Iowan gives that warehouse's address as 2339 Heinz Rd.
Put in order, the steps look like this:
- Online sales and Etsy, with inventory stored at home.
- Pop-ups on the Ped Mall and with Iowa City Flea.
- A weekend in a borrowed downtown storefront in June 2024.
- A south-side warehouse, plus a coffee cart that launched in May 2026.
- A permanent shop at 112 E. Washington St., which opened Oct. 10, 2026.
The shop now sells vintage Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its coffee bar pops up Friday through Sunday during the same hours, according to Odd Luck's website. The coffee side still works like a pop-up, even inside the permanent store. The District's release says the owners partner with Texas coffee roasters, including Mercado Sin Nombre in Austin, and host "Vinyl Sips" events with free coffee and music.
The storefront downtown lent out first
Step three is the one most residents never saw. In April 2024, the Iowa City Downtown District started a pilot called "In the Meantime." It temporarily leased the former White Rabbit storefront at 112 S. Linn St. so new retailers could test downtown with pop-ups, events and collaborations before signing a lease of their own.
To fill the space, the District brought in Kick-It Iowa City, a local expo and pop-up market producer founded by Tyesha and Demetrius Perry. In its May 2024 announcement, the District said the pair had mentored dozens of area entrepreneurs through markets at Big Grove Brewery, Xtream Arena and Old Capitol Mall. The first schedule shows the range of what came through:
- May 23–26: Catherine's Warehouse Sale
- May 28–June 9: Ten Thousand Villages pop-up with Global Mamas
- June 13–15: a vintage pop-up with Odd Luck Vintage, Thrift Bandit, Expired Cotton and CustaRhymes
- June 20–22: Sprii Beauty SkinCare
- June 27–30: "The Art of Saying No," an art exhibit by Michael Stenerson
The District also used the space for ticketed workshops with Molly's Cupcakes, Willow & Stock and Prairie Kitchen Store, so established downtown businesses were part of the experiment too. More than two years later, one of the vintage sellers from that June weekend has its own address on Washington Street. When Odd Luck announced its opening, Christopher Hunter of the Downtown District called it "exactly the kind of business we hoped to support when we launched In the Meantime."
A second vintage shop took the same route this month
Eight days before Odd Luck opened, a second resale shop made a similar jump. Your Dad's Closet opened Oct. 2 at 14½ S. Clinton St., across from the Pentacrest. It's owned by an Iowa City High School senior and sells secondhand vintage T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets and hats. The Daily Iowan reported that its inventory used to be sold only online through Depop or at pop-ups at local flea markets. The space had been extra office room for a lecture agency the family owns.
The shop still keeps pop-up hours. The paper reported plans to open from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, with appointments and extra pop-up times announced on social media. In practice, it's a weekend stop, and its social pages are the best way to check before you go.
Both vintage shops followed the same order. They built a following in temporary settings and opened a permanent store only after that. One has six years of markets behind it. The other started in a teenager's resale account. They opened downtown within eight days of each other.
Shop | Address | Before the storefront | Storefront opened |
|---|---|---|---|
Odd Luck | 112 E. Washington St. | Etsy, Ped Mall and Iowa City Flea pop-ups, In the Meantime, south-side warehouse | Oct. 10, 2026 |
Your Dad's Closet | 14½ S. Clinton St. | Depop and flea market pop-ups | Oct. 2, 2026 |
Kitty Corner Social Club | 20 S. Clinton St., moving to 375 S. Clinton St. | Opened at 20 S. Clinton in February 2025 | Larger space in November 2026 |
The step after the first storefront
Kitty Corner Social Club is one step further along. The cat lounge first opened in February 2025 at 20 S. Clinton St. The Gazette reports that it will reopen at 375 S. Clinton St. in November, in a larger space with room for more guests, more adoptable cats and more events. The Gazette says the lounge has arranged adoptions for almost 600 cats through local shelters and rescue groups. Co-founder Katy Brown told the paper she looks forward to "joining the energy and creativity of the Voxman block."
The old location stays open through this Saturday, Oct. 31. Its website lists the move window as late October to early November and doesn't give an exact reopening day yet.
Not every new shop follows these steps. On the Northside, Gavin Mercantile opened at 205 N. Linn St. with a grand opening on Aug. 29. It sells homewares, decor and gifts, and the District describes it as owner Amanda Gavin's shop in a renovated 1862 building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which it shares with Bread Worthy Bakery at 203 N. Linn. Once a shop opens, the District's programs help keep it going. Gavin Mercantile's opening announcement notes it joins the ICDD Gift Card program, which is redeemable at more than 160 downtown businesses. That's useful to know if you're buying for someone whose favorite shop you can't guess.
November and December run the tryout at full scale
The holiday calendar is where downtown runs the In the Meantime idea at its largest scale. The Downtown Holiday Pop-Up Market in Black Hawk Mini Park runs Nov. 28 through Dec. 24. The District describes it as a rotating list of businesses that pop in and out through November and December, with three shops open at a time. It's the same format that once gave Odd Luck a weekend on Linn Street, just running for most of a month.
Here's how the season lines up, based on the District's 2026 listings and the city's market page:
- Wednesday, Nov. 4 to Wednesday, Nov. 25: Downtown Holiday Kid's Market, now in its fifth year. Kids shop a parent's list on a set budget with help from Santa's helpers, and their gifts are wrapped before they hand them over. Hours are 10:15 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Nov. 14: November Holiday Market from the Iowa City Farmers Market, with vendors on the first-floor gym and the second-floor social hall of the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center. Shoppers pay no entry fee.
- Fridays, Nov. 20 and 27, Dec. 4, 11 and 18: Festive Fridays. The free Holly Trolley runs from 5 to 8 p.m. on a 10- to 15-minute loop connecting downtown with the Northside, and you board on Washington Street in front of the Englert Theatre. The District's 2026 calendar puts the 'Tis the Season Kickoff on Nov. 20.
- Saturday, Nov. 28: Small Business Saturday, and opening day of the Black Hawk Mini Park pop-up market.
- Saturday, Dec. 5: the busiest single day of the season. The District lists a Holiday Retail Open House from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with more than 20 shops hosting their own in-store events. The city's December Holiday Market is at the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center the same day. In Coralville, the free Holiday Thieves Market brings handmade work from local and regional artists to the Hyatt Regency Expo Hall on Dec. 5 and 6.
The Holly Trolley route ties these places together. It boards on Washington Street in front of the Englert, whose showgoers Odd Luck's owners said they hope to welcome, and its loop runs to the Northside block where Gavin Mercantile opened in August. Your Dad's Closet is on Clinton Street facing the Pentacrest, and Kitty Corner's new address is farther south on the same street. If you shop all four this season, you'll see each stage of the process in operation.
The Iowa City Flea, one of the places Odd Luck sold before it had a storefront, kept running this fall. It set up at Hubbard Park on Aug. 30 with the student group SCOPE Productions, and at PS1 Close House, 538 S. Gilbert St., on Sept. 27. The next shop to sign a downtown lease is probably selling at a table somewhere like that right now.
Downtown openings like these shape what everyday life around here feels like, and the Jill Armstrong team enjoys following them as closely as our clients do. If one of your favorite downtown shops got its start at a market table, or you have questions about life in the Iowa City corridor, Contact Us. We're always glad to hear from neighbors.
