DETROIT (BRAIN) — The watch, leather goods and bicycle company, Shinola, has teamed up with musician and Detroit native, Jack White, to purchase the building that currently houses its flagship retail store in Motor City's Cass Corridor. The deal follows Shinola's recent investment in expanding its manufacturing to include speakers, turntables and headphones.
The partnership marks new expansion for both Shinola and White's record label, Third Man Records, which was founded in Detroit in 2001. White went to high school in the Cass Corridor and also performed with his band, The White Stripes, for the first time there in the late 1990s. In November, White will open a Third Man Records retail store next door to Shinola Detroit, the music label's first brick-and-mortar outside of Nashville, Tenn.
"Everyone at Shinola is so excited about Third Man Records moving into the Cass Corridor," said Shinola founder Tom Kartsotis. "Unbelievable ... there goes the neighborhood!"
Shinola also recently opened new retail stores in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Plano, Texas, its first location in the Lonestar State. The 1,700 square-foot Plano store features Shinola's full line of American-made leather goods, watches and bicycle models, which are manufactured by Waterford Bicycles in Wisconsin and assembled in Detroit. The Plano store is also home to a Willys Detroit shop, a Shinola sister store that offers a variety of fashion and home brands.
"We are very proud to expand our footprint with the opening of our Shinola Plano store," said Heath Carr of Bedrock Manufacturing, LLC, Shinola's parent company. "Plano has a great community that's constantly growing, and we look forward to bringing Shinola to North Texas."
Shinola's 1,450 square-foot store in Ann Arbor opened in mid-June and features a satellite coffee bar. The store's 2,000 square-foot lower level has café tables and seating, a ping-pong table and event space for private and public gatherings.
"Shinola is excited to expand to the Ann Arbor community," Carr said. "Known as a center for innovation and creativity, we are proud to be joining this vibrant community of thinkers, artists and craftspeople who call Ann Arbor home."
The two new locations bring Shinola's brick-and-mortar count to nine, with the other seven storefronts operating in Minneapolis, London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and Washington, D.C.
