A Fashionable Maximalist Cocktail Bar Opens in Downtown Austin
A new cocktail bar opened in downtown Austin last month. Retail Therapy is found at 120 East Seventh Street — taking over the former Slake Cafe space and boldly on the same block as Austin cocktail bar Small Victory — as of March 5.
Despite Retail Therapy’s name, there is no shopping at the space. Instead, it’s a speakeasy-styled cocktail bar with a hidden entrance (it involves a mirror door between two shelves). Inside, the space features vintage mannequins that were turned into three-dimensional wall art, crystal-studded portrait artwork of famous people, including Taylor Swift and Beyonce, lounge seating, and a marble-topped bar.
For the cocktails, the team took their inspirations from fashion designers and general hip trends (hence the name of the bar). There are both shaken and stirred cocktail sections. The former including the Satine (named for a glossy fabric), with vodka, passionfruit puree, creme de cacao, amaretto, allspice dram, and an absinthe-soaked sugar cube that is lit on fire; the latter has the Ortolan (named after the extremely decadent bird dish seen on Succession) with browned duck fat, clove-washed armagnac, brandy, and a cordial bomb. Then there are other classic drinks, beers, wines, and nonalcoholic options.
The modern pan-Asian food menu developed by chef Sam Chen. There are dishes like sushi rolls, sashimi, and hot dishes like the seared tuna, shrimp, and New York steak, plus caviar. Chen owns Austin Chinese restaurant Mala Chili and Mongolian Stir Fry & Sushi Bar Kublai Khan. The desserts come from an unnamed pastry vendor. These include tiramisu, New York cheesecake, chocolate-raspberry cake, and the confetti cake for guests birthdays.
Retail Therapy co-owners are Eric Foster, Ryan Smith, and Glenn Williams. Foster, who functions as the bar’s managing partner, is from Austin, and had worked in tech sales and hospitality business in Houston and Dallas before returning to open Retail.
Smith is from Jamaica and moved to Austin when he was young, worked his way through Verizon where ehe opened his own store in Florida, and expanded into businesses including Austin-based Juiced Up Cafe, also Austin-based YTX Yoga, and others.
Williams, who has lived in Austin for the past 20 years, owns soul food restaurant the Rolling Rooster, seafood restaurant Kasion Boil, and nightclub the Cut.
The general manager is Jeramy Campbell, who had previously worked at nearby whiskey bar Seven Grand, beverage director of Italian restaurant Juliet, bar manager of now-closed Italian restaurant Winflo, French restaurant Peche, and consulted for and then became the director of operations of bar service company Sourced Craft Cocktails.
The space includes a whole VIP program with $250 annual membership with 10 percent off tables more than $150, a free drink each month, events and monthly tastings. Then there are bookable VIP tables with bottle service.
Retail Therapy’s hours are from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday and then from 4 p.m. to midnight on Sunday. Thursdays through Saturdays after 10:30 p.m. the space is a sit-down lounge.
