Whether it's a wallet, a piece of jewelry, a Bluetooth speaker, or an air plant, every item in Audra and Gabriel Glatstein's eclectic new store in Morro Bay, Intent, shares one unifying theme: social good.

There are notebooks that help build schools and literacy programs; sunglasses that provide eye exams to people who can't afford them; coffee farmed sustainably in Vietnam; and necklaces made by women rescued from sex trafficking.

• Photo By Peter Johnson
• FOR A CAUSE Audra and Gabriel Glatstein (with daughter Adley Grey) recently opened Intent, a store in downtown Morro Bay that sells eclectic products that all have a charitable or sustainable bent.

Anything and everything for sale inside the couple's nook on Morro Bay Boulevard has an altruistic bent. That was Audra's dream for the store when she, Gabriel, and their young daughter recently moved to the Central Coast to pursue a new career path and lifestyle. The family left a busy life in Clovis to start anew in Morro Bay, a city Audra visited frequently growing up in the Central Valley.

"We wanted to do something different," Audra told New Times. "We played around with the idea of a store, but we didn't want to do just a store; we wanted to do something that felt meaningful and beautiful to us."

Audra said at first she wasn't sure if she would be able to find enough business partners to stock a whole store with products she could stand behind. But after hours and hours of research, she discovered there was a bounty of vendors.

From skateboards made with recycled fishing nets, to sustainably sourced clothes, to pins that benefit immigrant youth, Intent's inventory is truly a mosaic of interesting and tasteful products, companies, and causes.

"It's been really fun to work with these companies that do give-backs because they're all super stoked [to work with us]," she said. "We found a lot of companies, which was so beautiful."

The Glatsteins are holding up their end as a charitable business, too. They've signed up to be one of only 500 companies statewide to pledge 2,000 tree plantings to the nonprofit One Tree Planted, which is helping reforest California in the wake of devastating wildfires. They're also members of 1 Percent for the Planet, donating 1 percent of their gross revenue to environmental causes.

For Audra and Gabriel, opening Intent is about both doing some good in the world and offering their community a positive and socially conscious shopping experience.

"The idea behind the store is intentional shopping," Gabriel said. "We like to shop as much has the next person, but I think for a lot of people, they go shopping and find it to be a rather cavernous experience where you feel hollow after. We kind of had this thought of, can't shopping feel good? And what a beautiful thing if you could shop and actually do good for other people."

Intent is located at 317 Morro Bay Blvd. and is open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reach the store by phone at (805) 222-3025 or at intentastore.com.

Fast fact

• Tranz Central Coast is launching a new support group for transgender, non-binary, and questioning youth, with monthly meetings starting Jan. 22, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the GALA Center in SLO. The group is open to youth ages 11 to 18, and the conversations will be facilitated by Cal Poly student Keegan Meadows. Visit tranzcentralcoast.org or call (805) 242-3821 for more information. Δ

Assistant Editor Peter Johnson wrote this week's Strokes and Plugs. Send tidbits to [email protected].