(Photo: Danny Kim/New York Magazine)

You’ve been dating for four years, but you recently opened separate stores. Are you competitive?
Angela: A bit, yeah. It’s hard when one of us wants to stock something that the other really likes.
Emil: I come home and tell Angela about a new menswear brand, then she shows me amazing home products, and we both get jealous.

How do you describe your respective stores?
Emil: Nostalgic products that put a smile on your face. We try to capture the happiness of stuff like Big League Chew and Astronaut Ice Cream and carry that over into clothes and accessories.
Angela: A collection of international housewares and accessories that somehow make sense together.

Do you think of your stores as “hipster”?
Emil: Well, we’re not insincere or ironic.
Angela: We’re on a desolate block, so we get all kinds. The neighbors have said it reminds them of someplace in Puerto Rico.

What’s your favorite item in stock right now?
Angela: Shoulder bags made out of Brazilian feed sacks. But I get the most compliments on useful stuff, like a toilet brush with a wooden handle.
Emil: Splatter-painted mugs and bowls.

Any joint co-scouting trips coming up?
Angela: Back to Brazil sometime soon. Now we actually have store spaces to put everything.
Emil: But we’re going to need a bigger rental car.

Related:

• Archive: “Ask Shop Clerk”
• Articles by Lauren Murrow
• Table of Contents: Feb 6, 2012 issue of New York | Subscribe!