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La Tiendita’s cute homemade novelties are mostly handcrafted by members of the Lower Eastside Girls Club, an organization offering educational programs and job training for underprivileged girls. Concrete walls and floors reinforce the gallery-space feel of the store, which displays photographs by the girls on the back wall. Also hanging on the walls and around the front counter are little fabric rose brooches, beaded hoop earrings made entirely from old bike parts, miniature knit purses, and reindeer Christmas ornaments. Not everything is made by the group’s girls, however; the store also imports unique fair-trade goods, such as Mexican pottery. — Rachel Corbett