San Luis Obispo now has some Ethiopian flair in its wardrobe of downtown boutiques.

The newly opened storefront at 1065 Higuera St. is the first retail location for Vancouver, Wash.-based Konjo Ababa, which designs and imports high-end, fair-trade handbags from Ethiopia.

Owner and founder Thomas Meister is a former fashion model and photographer who went on to become an independent stock broker and commodities trader for a number of years. His love of fashion and his business sense culminated in the Ethiopian handbag business, which employs about 320 people in Africa and five in the U.S.

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