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Being the in-house hipster entrepreneur doesn't always come with the privileges you might imagine. Just ask Graeme Maclean and Kevin Renton ("as in Trainspotting"), the two Scottish indie obsessives behind Ukula, a new ground zero for all things impossibly cool in music, books and fashion (492 College St. W., Toronto, 416-619-9282).

Looking much like the living room of your friendly neighbourhood Urban Outfitters devotee, the shop has groovy leather couch and a chandelier (stylish), a carefully curated selection of CDs, books and magazines (smart), an espresso bar serving organic, fair-trade coffee (socially aware) and, of course, a collection of saucy clothing labels.

But, alas, the ladies, it seems, are unmoved. In fact, most of the pretty girls who come in are more interested in the female store manager.

"She makes them a coffee and she gets a hug," says MacLean, shaggy hair hanging in his eyes. "She's much cuter than us."

"We're serious" Renton says in his Scottish lilt. "Have you seen us?"

They are getting a little hard to miss. Having turned their fetish for independent music and design into first an online community (http://www.ukula.com) and a free magazine distributed at select spots across Canada, New York and London, their latest move is to plunge into retail, something neither of the thirtysomething DJs/music promoters knows much about. What they do know is a lot of creative people -- they count the folks behind superhip labels Paperbag Records and Arts&Crafts (home to Feist, Broken Social Scene and Young Galaxy) among their close colleagues. So they wanted to create a space for like-minded Torontonians to indulge all their aesthetic passions at once.

"The whole feel was to something that is unique," Maclean says. "People will come in and say, 'Oh, this reminds me of a store in Berlin, or in New York, or in Sweden.' We attract such a diverse, artistic crowd. They come in just to chat, or to look at Scandinavian denim, and then they walk out with something else. It all goes full circle. It's a whole community environment."

Indeed, sometimes it's barely even a store. The guys will often clear the floor and hold album launches, parties and book clubs (which turn into parties). They are planning a fashion show during Toronto's upcoming Fashion Week (in store, featuring labels they carry), and in the summer they hope to open a back patio.

Fashion lines at the shop include Sessun from France and nu.c designs from Montreal, whose stiff bolero-style canvas jackets ($175) proved superpopular. "We sold every one already," Maclean says of the jackets, which are designed, of course, by yet another friend. "We're yelling at her, 'Get behind your sewing machine and make us some more' "

Jeans are represented by Denim Birds for women -- including a pair of decidedly fashion-forward high-waisted skinnies -- and Nudie Jeans for men. The rest of the selection includes pieces from Toronto womenswear label Common Cloth (dresses, $398), jewellery from Toronto's Biko Designs, quirky tees from Vancouver's Lifetime Collective ($32), sneakers from Zeha Berlin (the communist version of Adidas, $170 to $190) and men's pieces from U.K streetwear lines Boxfresh and fenchurch.Suffice to say, the CDs for sale are an indie A to Z, with everyone from Arts&Crafts to Sufjan Stevens. Books, selected by a "book geek" friend, include Montrealer Heather O'Neill's Lullabies for Little Criminals (selected for CBC Radio's Canada Reads this year), Derek McCormack's Christmas Days and Liar by fellow Torontonian Lynn Crosbie -- all in all, a rather patriotic selection for a couple of transplanted Scots.

"There's lots of talented people here," Renton says of their decision to open up shop in Toronto. (Maclean came to Canada to attend University of Toronto, and Renton followed).

"I've met some magic people here," Maclean adds. "And being on College Street sets us aside. It's such a nice community. Queen Street is just the mall now. It's sad, it's completely flipped. We didn't want to become another domino on Queen Street."

"We're opening in Nunavut next," Renton says dryly. "I love Nunavut."

"He just likes the name," Maclean says, rolling his eyes. "I'll have none of it."

Speaking of names, what, pray tell, does theirs mean?

"We just came up with Ukula some late night," MacLean says rather sheepishly. "People think it has something to do with the U.K, but we just liked the letter U. Catchy, innit?"