Opitz Outlet, the popular Twin Cities discount boutique for designer clothing, is setting up shop in Minneapolis.

An Annex store, similar to the one in St. Louis Park for nearly 20 years, will open in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood in Minneapolis in mid-April. The store will carry slightly flawed men's and women's designer clothing, accessories, shoes and occasionally housewares discounted at 80 or 90 percent.

Owner Lyn Opitz said that after he opened a second outlet store in Minnetonka in 2013, his business began to accumulate too much merchandise to fit in the Annex in St. Louis Park.

He buys merchandise in large lots from luxury boutiques and department stores that don't allow him to cherry pick. But once in his possession, he said the clothing is sorted like apples. "The perfect ones go in our Outlet stores and the blemished go in the Annexes," he said.

Fashion stylist and bargain hunter Gwen Leeds of Edina said she's glad to see a second Annex being added. "People are lined up around the block in St. Louis Park waiting to get in it's so popular," she said.

Leeds recently bought a Coach zippered wallet without a zipper pull for $10 that was $100 new. "I can buy a zipper pull somewhere else," she said.

Items at the Annex start out at 80 or 90 percent off and eventually are reduced to $5 each after a three- or four-week cycle. Leeds said shoppers learn to read the tags with a sketch of the item on the tag to indicate where the flaw is, which could be a hole, stain or ripped seam.

Opitz said that most items sell for about $16 or less in the Annex. Opitz said he chose the location based on its proximity to Augsburg College and University of Minnesota campuses, as well as the large Somali population that lives nearby. "Somalis are heavy shoppers in our St. Louis Park Annex store," he said.

The new store will be located at 1919 Riverside Av. in Minneapolis.

John Ewoldt • 612-673-7633