Jessica Goff

Celebrating two years in business Thursday, River Ranch retail shop Red Arrow Workshop announced it is partnering with the Acadiana Center for the Arts to open a second location.

The gift shop will be located inside the AcA's main lobby. Owners Jillian Johnson and Jason Brown said the shop will be open in time for the September ArtWalk downtown.

"AcA approached us last fall about possibly helping them with their gift shop space, which is the Coca-Cola gallery now," Johnson said. "The building was built with space to act as a gift shop."

Johnson said Red Arrow had been looking to collaborate with River Ranch coffee shop The Lab, which recently opened a satellite shop in the AcA.

Gerd Wuestemann, executive director of Acadiana Center for the Arts, said the two companies will attract more visitors into its free galleries during the workday.

"We felt it was great benefit having The Lab and Red Arrow's presence here," Wuestemann said. "We really envisioned having two vibrant young, creative entities – the coffee shop and gift shop – in the building. It will draw people from the community into the AcA during the daytime."

On Thursday the company also announced that its sister store Parish Ink is opening a store on Magazine Street in New Orleans. The 1,800-square-foot space will be split into two shops, Johnson said.

The couple has had their sights set on expanding to New Orleans for some time, Johnson said.

"Every time we go there and we do festivals, we get such a great response on our product," she said. "There is so much enthusiasm from people. We love to visit New Orleans and spend time there. I think we've always had the goal of expanding in that direction eventually. We were sort of casually just looking and we found this space, and it just seemed perfect for both shops."

Both new Parish Ink and Red Arrow stores will continue to highlight Louisiana's culture. The 3926 Magazine Street shop, which is set to open in September, will cater a bit more to the Crescent City, Johnson said.

"But we definitely want to stay Cajun in the things that we are offering," Johnson said. "There are lot of people from Acadiana that live in New Orleans that would love to have the opportunity to shop with us there and express that side of South Louisiana culture."