Shinola

Shinola is makers of leather goods, bags, handcrafted watches, bicycles, pet collars and leashes, based out of Detroit and promoting American-​built products. The store and space is luxurious and a tad snobby, if you know what I mean. I found products to be overly high priced and not that superb in quality upon close inspection. For instance, a $ 1K watch should be an automatic in my opinion and not run by the quartz movement. I get it that American made anything is bound to be much more expensive, yet it shouldn’t be catered exclusively to the rich and powerful, who by the way probably care more about other world renown brands of European fame, anyway. I loved the ambience of this modern store, though!

Beautiful well made products that speak volumes when you enter the door. Shinola is a homerun. I bought a backpack at the Los Angeles store and never unbagged it because I was not thoroughly satisfied with the navy color. About a month later I was enroute to the San Francisco Bay Area to visit family and took it along with me to show my mom the quality of their product because I was thoroughly impressed with the craftsmanship and thought that she would be too. I called the Shinola store in Palo Alto, CA as I neared the Palo Alto area to see if they had the backpack in black and I was told yes. So I dropped in with my receipt and unused backpack and was able to exchange it for the black one that I really wanted. The Shinola representative that assisted me was extremely polite and professional throughout the entire process and made me feel like a valued customer even offering me a Shinola Cola after having driven 300 miles unbeknownst to him (you never know), Thank you, Derrick. My mother loved the backpack so much I took her with me to visit the same Palo Alto, CA location two days later. This time we were greeted by Danielle who epitomizes what a professional in her field should be like. Danielle was courteous, warm, down to earth, and knowledgeable about the products that I was interested in, but what also struck me was her pride about the quality of the Shinola product. On this visit I purchased the travel kit and a sweatshirt and I am extremely happy with my purchases. I want to note that I am in no way affiliated with Shinola, but I’m just a customer who is exceedingly pleased to own some truly well crafted American made products. Thank you, Shinola, thank you Derrick, and thank you Danielle for all of efforts and may God bless America !

Horrible customer service, After purchasing a watch for $ 750 I wore it the first day in the shower and the leather band faded drastically and started to smell. I called customer service and was told to purchase another band for $ 95.amazing enough they said it was not treated to be water resistant, pretty strange for a water proof watch, and no mention at all that it wasn’t.
In my opinion the leather band of that quality should not cost more than $ 10.

I came for a networking event hosted by a young professionals group in Palo Alto. I had heard of Shinola because Mr. Holmes Bakehouse in SF collaborated with them to create a cruffin using their Shinola Cola for their SF shop’s grand opening.
I loved the clean interior, very chic and modern. The watches don’t come cheap, but they’re a true American company — all watches are made and crafted in the US, in Detroit! I’m definitely in love with the men’s Runwell line of watches; they look so clean… but the price makes it something that’s holding me back from getting for the boy as a gift… sigh. They also have other leather goods like bags, wallets, and journals/​planners. They also monogram the journals for free! That would be a nice little gift too.

I’ve been wanting to buy a grown-​up watch for quite a while. Nothing had struck my fancy until I wandered into Shinola. I was looking for a special gift a while ago for a friend and I found one. Then I saw their watch collection. Bingo! I told myself I’d be back to splurge on myself. This store is GREAT for buying a beautiful gift (for yourself or someone else). From gorgeous bags to books to pens to sweat shirts to bicycles. They even have a beautiful domino set!
So today was my day. I bought my watch! A rose gold beauty. I cannot stop looking at my wrist.
I also saw that they do free engraving (is it still called «engraving» if it’s on leather?) so if you buy one of their lovely moleskins, you can have them put initials on it! Very cool.
Finally, the young women who work there are so friendly and helpful. It’s a great experience just looking around the store!

I finally got off early enough to visit the shinola store in Palo Alto. For those not familiar with the brand they are a new American company that’s based in Detroit, most of their items are made or assembled there, they make bicycles, leather goods, and other goodies but of course what really caught my eye were there timepieces, particularly the runwell line. Shinola was actually founded by the owner of fossil, they also have another American made company called Filson. The store itself isn’t that big but it was pretty neat to look around. There’s so many cool looking watches this is gonna be a hard choice for me

Okay so my boyfriend has been wanting a Shinola a long time now. His dad is from Detroit and his family loves the whole state of Michigan. So, finally I got him to get his watch and a note book (both embossed). He loves the fact that they are American made and well crafted.
Honestly, we were dorky and excited and really thrilled to see the shop in Palo Alto. They just opened within the past two weeks! Since they don’t have one in Orange County and we are on vacation, I convinced him to indulge. Samantha, who apparently is normally in the San Fran store, honestly made us feel like we were buying something she stood behind. She was fun to chat with, listened to what my boyfriend wanted, and was patient. She gave us seriously first class service. I was especially grateful because this is a nice purchase and she made it as such.
Thanks Shinola for continuing to build Detroit and thanks Samantha for making our day!