Shinola Debuts in TriBeCa

Shinola/Detroit LLC, the manufacturer of bicycles, watches and leather items, has opened its second retail location, in New York’s TriBeCa neighborhood.

As with the company’s flagship location in Detroit, which opened in early July, the new store on Franklin Street in Lower Manhattan has been designed for lingering and for multipurpose use. It has a snack area run by a local restaurant and display platforms that double as stadium-style seating for evening lectures.

“We want people to come in, sit down, touch the leather, try on the watch, be a part of the brand and feel comfortable,” said creative director Daniel Caudill at the store’s opening night party. “This is a place where you can touch product and hang out. Not just buy a watch, buy the right watch for you.”

The year-old brand, which takes its name from an iconic American shoe polish, has acquired cult status for the watches, bicycles, leather goods and notebooks it produces in its downtown Detroit factory.

Shinola is the first company in decades to make luxury watches in the United States. The Swiss parts are assembled at its factory inside a historic building that used to be home to a General Motors design studio (and now is a part of the city's College for Creative Studies). Bikes – made in a factory in neighboring Wisconsin – are assembled on-site at the Detroit store, originally a warehouse for the Willys Overland Motor Co.