The AIBA Armadillo Awards: Keeping Austin Local

The Austin Independent Business Alliance presents honors on Thursday

By Anne Harris, 10:17AM, Tue. Apr. 22, 2014

The Austin Independent Business Alliance wraps up Local Business Month by recognizing our long tradition of free-thinking independent businesses with the first annual Armadillo Awards at 5:30pm, on Thursday, April 24 at Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane.

A reception gets the evening started with a carnival theme preceding the Awards, promising local food, music, and characters, as well as "surprise amusements." Here are this year's finalists, local stalwarts all, honored in eleven categories:

New Local Business
ABGB Austin Beer Garden and Brewery
in.gredients
Pinthouse Pizza
Stonebridge Coffee
Sweet Home and Gifts

Business With No Front (no brick and mortar)
Great OutDogs
Little Miss Recycle
Marisposa Spanish School
Stonebridge Coffee
SXSW

Austin’s Best Kept Secret (high quality under the radar)
Assistance League of Austin Thrift House
Austin Dogtown
DogBoys Dog Ranch
Lauterstein-Conway Massage School
Sweet Home and Gifts

Green Local Business
EcoClean Non-Toxic Dry Cleaning
Greenling
in.gredients
Little Miss Recycle
Wheatsville Food Co-op

Healthy Local Business
Black Swan Yoga
Lauterstein-Conway Massage School
Nimble Foods
People's Pharmacy
Wheatsville Food Co-op

Local Austin Hangout
Alamo Drafthouse
BookPeople
Cherrywood Coffee House
Mozart's
Spider House Cafe

Austin Customer Experience
Alamo Drafthouse
Birds Barbershop
BookPeople
Chez Zee
Nimble Foods

Twist on Technology
Chaotic Moon Studios
Departure Lounge
Hot Dog Marketing
MAKEatx
Nimble Foods

Made in Austin
Clayworks
El Milagro Chips
Lammes Candies
Stubb's BBQ Sauce
Tito's Handmade Vodka

Soul of Austin
Armadillo Christmas Bazaar
BookPeople
KUT/KUTX
Threadgill's
Waterloo Records & Video

Community Champion
Assistance League of Austin
Give Realty
HAAM
I Live Here I Give Here
Sustainable Food Center

The non-profit Austin Independent Business Alliance represents the interests of locally-grown businesses and advocates consumer-spending here at home, thereby keeping the entities vibrant that have built the culture of Austin as we know it. It began in 2002 when a group of local business owners met to “explore the idea that local was a community value, that independent businesses built this city, reflect our culture, and provide the things needed for a fulfilled life.”

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