Rocker Jack White has opened a Third Man Records store in his hometown, the Motor City.
The Grammy-nominated White — the singer, guitarist, drummer and producer who rose to acclaim in the duo The White Stripes — was on hand on Friday for the satellite location’s grand opening just north of downtown Detroit. Hundreds flocked to the store, which next year plans to launch a vinyl record pressing plant.
The shop opened with vinyl reissues from Tamla Records, including releases by Marvin Gaye, the Supremes and Miracles.
White founded Third Man in Detroit in 2001. He left Detroit for Nashville, Tennessee, where Third Man is based.
White and Shinola, a Detroit-based business that makes watches and other goods, jointly announced plans in June to buy the building housing Shinola.
The neighbourhood, once considered part of Detroit’s Cass Corridor, had been a mixture of aging houses and run-down buildings. But many of the crumbling structures have been torn down.
To the north is Detroit’s strong Midtown neighbourhood.
A $450 million (Dh1.6 billion), 20,000-seat hockey arena for the Detroit Red Wings is being built about 10 blocks to the south and is scheduled to open in 2017. It will anchor a 45-block entertainment district.
“Everything in this neighbourhood seems to me like the perfect place for the renaissance and the rebirth and the regrowth from the ashes that Detroit is going to rise from,” White said on Thursday night at a private party at the shop.
Fans started waiting in line on Thursday morning for Friday’s official opening. Some pitched tents outside the building.
