How Iris and Iris fill a former city palace with life again

For Iris Eibensteiner it’s almost like coming home. From 2003 to 2016, “Diesel-Iris” was shop manager in the Diesel Store at Hauptplatz 23. After further positions at “Peak Performance” and “Clothes Make People” on Herrenstrasse, she returned to the stone-old building last week. But this time with her own business. On Thursday, she opened “Buddy&Murphy”, the first well-stocked second-hand/vintage shop in combination with sustainable labels in Linz.

City palace from the Renaissance period

This brings life back to the ground floor area of the house, which has been empty for years. For a different Iris, the arrival of Buddy&Murphy is just another stage. Since 2018, Iris Mayr has been carefully adapting, renovating and reopening, together with the house owner Altgraf Niklas Salm-Reifferscheidt, room by room in the former city palace from the Renaissance period.

Tradition of a free house

Mayr is inspired by the history of the house. Hauptplatz 23 was once a “free house”, not only exempt from taxes, but also a kind of early open space that invited people to think freely and differently. Mayr wants to build on this spirit with her art and business building, a kind of versatile co-working space. 50 people now work in around 2000 square meters of office and studio space, and there is also the temporary use of workplaces and rooms of all sizes for seminars, workshops, coaching and much more.

Awareness of used goods

The house is vintage yet modern, and so is newcomer Buddy&Murphy. After all, second-hand is one of the big trends. “It’s important to me to create awareness of used goods, especially now that far too much is being produced,” says Eibensteiner, who has always been enthusiastic regarding flea markets and junk shops. But her shop has nothing to do with the classic rummage box. The pieces are pre-sorted, ironed and look like new. The currently most expensive one is a trench coat for 149 euros, but there are also T-shirts for nine euros. If something has a hole or the zip is broken, the customer determines the price himself. In addition to clothing, there should also be other items such as interiors, small pieces of furniture and posters.

House manager Iris Mayr has found an ideal “buddy” in the 48-year-old. “I think the spirit is so beautiful, starting together, trying things out, daring something,” says Mayr.