Shinola Ann Arbor Store — Attraction in Ann Arbor

This review is for the underground "cafe" at this shop that the welcoming sign outside points to:

Before concluding that this 1-star rating is an exaggeration, read my brief experience here and decide for yourself if this is an establishment you feel welcome at or want to support. The 10 minutes I spent here was by far, one of the rudest and most disrespectful experiences I've had with any staff member, anywhere, in my life, and it was completely unwarranted. We're never coming here again, and strongly advise anyone else to do the same. The man with the meticulously groomed beard behind the counter cosplaying as a 1920s lumberjack seems to have a Ph. D. in passive aggression. After being shown the way in by other staff to go downstairs and being delighted at the atmosphere, I politely asked this man where the bathroom was, the answer being met with extreme yet ambiguous passive-aggressive sass. The conversation was as follows (verbatim):

"Excuse me, is there a bathroom in here?" "Yes. Around the corner" Staring, irritatingly. Walking (literally) around the corner, I notice that there are two black doors with passcode door locks (just like they have at their competitor, Starbucks, across the street). "Hi, what's the password?" "There is no password." "There's no password?" I asked, looking at the doors, confused. "No. It's around the corner." The bathroom was around the corner from the hallway around the corner.

Wondering if the rudeness was all in my head, we went to sit back down and tried to connect to the WiFi, which needed a password. So, we went to the counter to ask for said password. The conversation at this wanna-be 1920s speakeasy went as follows (verbatim):

"Hi, do you know the WiFi password?" "Yes." He stared me in the eye with annoyance. "Could you tell us what it is?" I answered, bewildered at his behavior. "Get rid of your outside drink, order two sparkling waters, and then I'll tell you what it is." He grumbled at my girlfriend and I (after we were let in by two staff members downstairs with me blatantly holding the drink I had brought).

Isn't it funny when staff members act like they have a license to be total jerks to you and act like they own the place? I guess that's one way to take out your anger at life - on potential customers.

Pro tip: Maybe invest in some bouncers to protect your super-secret cafe...

This is my second and my last bad customer service experience with Shinola. I ordered a gift over the phone through the Ann Arbor store. I was promised it would arrive the next day and I would receive an email with the receipt for my order. I never received the email but I did see a charge on my card. I was told I would receive a call the next day when my item arrived. I never received that call. I called at 3 o'clock and was told they were too busy and they would have to call me back. I then text message one of the workers there who used his cell phone to call me the day before. I told him that I was on my way to the store to pick up the item. He immediately called me and told me that the item would not arrive in time and that I really did not need to come to the store. I was about to order this item online and it was guaranteed next-day delivery but when I called the store I was told oh no problem we'll be able to get it the next day too. Obviously that did not happen. They told me it would be in Monday and it was coming from California. And also they told me that it was a miscommunication with FedEx that it did not arrive on time. It's totally unacceptable to screw up an order and then ignore the customer and not tell them the truth. Now we are missing a Mother's Day gift that I was told would be at the store on Saturday.

I'm done with Shinola now. They want to be a premium good store but they totally lack the customer service to get that that. They are riding the "cool" factor of...

The store upstairs is awesome with very nice and knowledgeable staff. I appreciated their hospitality and service in finding a great fit for your watch.

More recently I sat downstairs in the cafe for a meeting and I understand it’s common to order something when you sit (I typically do), but I had just enjoyed a hot tea from another establishment and wanted to wait a bit before having something else. They made a really big deal about it and continued to interrupt my virtual meeting to ask me to place an order. I assured them that I would get something later, but to please allow me to finish what I was doing in the meantime. They basically asked me to leave over the fact that I wouldn’t place an order immediately which I found to be asinine and hostile.

The drink itself isn’t really the problem and someone else might have just bought one to get them off their back, but I took issue with how forceful and intrusive the staff became. It seems so much more direct and reasonable to simply charge an admission fee if collecting $4-7 is that serious.

I definitely won’t be back, and I wonder if they think it’s worth treating customers with so much contempt over a latte that they feel pressured and don’t return. I was disappointed to have this experience as it’s a nice study space central to downtown. Hopefully they revise this policy or rethink how...