Launch Board Shop

Best skate shop in Ann Arbor. Hard and soft goods, and tons of shoes, in what used to be Footprints (shoe store). Staff are all skaters, and good dudes — don’t be shy to ask for what you want/​need. They’ll special order anything, carry new brands often, and post new gear and restocks up on their website.
Home of the Purple Kobruhs, and strong supporters of the Ann Arbor Skatepark.

As I visited Michigan, I began to wonder if there were any street wear/​shoe boutiques like my beloved California. Low and behold, I stumbled across this little gem near U of M.
It’s a rather tiny skate shop, a little bigger than The Hundreds shop (the one on Fairfax in LA), with a great selection of shoes, clothes, decks, etc.
Being from Cali, I prayed they carried any Vans, Supra, Nike SB Dunks… And they did! Although the selection was great, (they even had a few rare SB Dunks) they did not carry my size. Also, the sale section prices were not too different from the regular priced brands/​models.
While I wasn’t able to find anything in my size, I’m glad I can come back to a place in Ann Arbor that shares my clothing tastes and styles.
Go blue!

My favorite shoe store in Ann Arbor. Clearly Launch is primarily a skateboarding shop, but their apparel and shoe selection is hands down the best in the city. They sell Vans, Converse, Adidas, and have a solid Nike SB account. They get pretty much every general release Nike, plus most in-​store exclusives and a decent amount of quickstrikes. They also have tons of mark downs on their shoes and anything on sale is buy one get one half off (the sale price).
All of the guys that work here are skaters, but they are really cool to sneaker guys like me. I can’t say anything about the service they provide for skateboarding, but their shoe selection blows Red Belly out of the water. Their location is also awesome, on the southeast corner of South U and Church (the storefront is a little different from the photo now, but you can’t miss it).
One more note: Lately they’ve been having punk concerts on Friday nights, so they may close a bit early. The acts they’ve had have been pretty solid so far, both local and national.