I live in the metro Detroit area, and my family got me a Shinola Brakeman watch for Father's Day a few years ago. Fantastic product, and I've been very happy with it. I'm hopeful that they'll get me a Runwell turntable for this coming Father's Day, but there is a bit of a price difference (about $700 for the watch and about $2500 for the turntable). I agree the price seems high for what you get, but it is sexy and kinda local. All that said, I'll most likely be keeping my current rig.
Turntables hit the mainstream
Just saw an ad in an upscale newspaper that Neiman-Marcus is selling the Shinola turntable for about $2500 or so. It makes me wonder whether they have salespeople trained to explain to a prospective buyer that it’s not a self-contained unit and they’ll need a cartridge, phono preamp and hifi system to make it work. But I do think it’s a good start. Then again, if they carry Shinola, why not Wilson, Goldmund, etc? There's a lot of profit in those products and stores like NM attract a weathy crowd. Seems like a natural pairing.