Pingree Detroit, a company that makes accessories out of upcycled automotive materials, is opening its first store in downtown Detroit.
The store, which is set to open on Nov. 11 and will be located at 22 W. Columbia St. (the pedestrian-only street near the Fox Theatre), will offer shoes, bags and accessories. It also will have a street-viewable workshop where customers can watch products being made on certain days.
“Detroit’s energy is incredible right now,” Jarret Schlaff, co-founder and CEO of Pingree Detroit, said in a news release announcing the store’s opening. Schlaff said he’s excited to introduce Pingree Detroit’s products to shoppers downtown, adding that the store is “designed to reconnect people with the hands and hearts behind what they buy.”
Pingree Detroit joins several other new retailers — mostly national brands — that are opening stores in downtown Detroit this year. Alo Yoga, which sells women’s and men’s athletic and athleisure apparel, became the first retail tenant at the Hudson’s building downtown when it opened in August. Tecovas, a Texas-based retailer of cowboy boots and Western clothing, also recently opened at the Hudson’s building.
Along Woodward Avenue downtown, an Apple Store opened at the end of the summer and the women’s clothing retailer Free People opened a store earlier this year. The Michigan-based furniture company Gardner White opened a store downtown in June.
Timberland also is opening a store on Woodward Avenue in mid-November, the outdoor footwear retailer said in a post on social media.
Founded in 2015, Pingree Detroit operates as a worker-owned cooperative, where every employee has a stake in the business. It said 77% of profits are shared or reinvested locally, and it employs Detroiters and U.S. military veterans. Pingree Detroit said it has diverted more than 55,000 pounds of leather, vinyl and seat belts from landfills.
The company’s factory is on Livernois Avenue on Detroit’s west side. Products range in price from about $4.99 for shoelaces to $349 for a made-to-order travel tote.
Pingree Detroit will hold a grand opening event at its new store at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pingree Detroit to open its first store in downtown Detroit on Nov. 11
Reporting by Adrienne Roberts, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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