Ready to bid farewell to another of Austin's weird wonders? Slackerville, a funky shopping center home to retro boutiques at 2209 S. First St., has been sold to World Class Capital Group. The developers will transform the offbeat marketplace into a storage facility.



The sale was motivated, perhaps unsurprisingly, by rising property taxes. The center was recently appraised at nearly $1.5 million.



So what becomes of the vibrant merchants occupying the once weird Austin institution? For vintage retailers New Brohemia and Amelia's Retro-Vogue & Relics and essential record store End of an Ear, transition is already underway.



New Brohemia has merged its stock of vintage apparel (originally his and hers) with sister store, New Bohemia, into one store in the Concorde Shopping Center on Airport Boulevard. The Slackerville location closed in July.



Amelia's Retro-Vogue and Relics has gone mobile. With plans to go global with its web presence and two picture-perfect trailers, Dezi (1949 TraveLite) and Ethyl (1959 Airstream), posted off Slaughter Lane, it's easy to keep track of the way-back vintage selection of brooches, bags, and more. Amelia's also has been welcomed into the New Bohemia space and has plans to begin operations on Airport Boulevard by October.



End of an Ear is still doing business as usual in its home in Slackerville, with new releases, sales, and other items of interest announced frequently on social media. The record store will say so long to Slackerville in September. Stay tuned for the anticipated announcement of the new location, rumored to remain down south in a bigger location.



Slackerville will shutter by December; construction for the storage facility begins in February.