When Angela Lessman and Sarah Sweet decided to open a store that sells wares from the Twin Cities art community, the hardest part of the process was deciding on a name.
“You want something that someone’s going to remember and that kind of speaks to the business it is,” Sweet said.
“I Like You” it was.
“I think we add a little extra fun,” Lessman said. “Fun” is quite the accurate word for the eclectic and endearingly-named shop.
Repetitions of the store’s moniker are colorfully blazoned on its exterior. The mural brings people from all over to take photos for weddings, birthdays, graduations and even casual Instagram shots.
“The wall outside was kind of a super happy accident,” Sweet said. “We planned to do it, we just didn’t realize what a great advertising tool it would be.”
But there’s more to the store’s success than its popular exterior.
The “Minneapolis original” store sells a wide range of items from over 200 local and independent artists.
There are shirts with “loonicorns” on them. There are candles with scents ranging from “flapjacks and flannel” to “purple rain.” There’s even a framed cross-stitch reading “Have a Nice Dump” in a quaint, red font.
With 55 percent of sales going back to the artist, cultivating a home-grown support system is something I Like You strives for.
In their last 10 years of business, they’ve put over $2 million dollars back into the local artist community.
“I feel like it makes people feel good to know that their money is staying and supporting something good,” Sweet said.
“This is how people want to shop,” Lessman added. “The gift is more meaningful.”
This sense of meaning extends to the causes the shop supports. Recently, “All Are Welcome Here” signs have graced I Like You’s shelves.
Started by University of Minnesota alumni Jaime Chismar, the signs help support diversity in Minnesota and the United States as a whole. The store has provided a standout avenue for their distribution.
“[I Like You] provides such an important service in that you can walk in, touch the actual product and talk to them about the artist that made it,” Chismar said. “They have a huge heart and are so committed to [artists and social justice] in our community. They’ve been the biggest champion for our signs.”
Recently, this continued commitment to the local arts community led to the opening of a new St Paul location. Aptly named I Like You Too, the store opened in November.
Ten years of business, constant requests from people visiting their booth at the State Fair, and a friend willing to help all “watered the seed” for the new spot on Snelling.
The slightly smaller, cozier shop offers many of the same products as its parent store. However, there are a few Capitol-specific gifts including shirts and stickers that endearingly say “Keep St. Paul Boring.”
No matter where they are or what they sell, Lessman and Sweet constantly work to support and encourage local and independent art.
“Whether your product is something you make a living off of or something you do for fun, we want to see it,” Sweet said.
