In the world of heritage style, the news of Wilson & Willy’s is big—Great Lakes big. The shop is the brainchild of two of the most influential Minnesotans in the world of made-in-America manufacturing: John Mooty, the former marketing and creative director of Faribault Woolen Mill Co. (and the son of the company’s former CEO Chuck Mooty), and Rita Mehta, founder of style blog The American Edit, a comprehensive catalog of U.S.-made makers and manufacturers. Where his father helped revitalize the historic mill’s brand, John aims to revive the Warehouse District’s history of manufacturing with Wilson & Willy’s.
Modeled after the classic general store, the shop sells a mix of Minnesota-made goods from both time-honored brands and newer makers. And it certainly looks the part: It’s housed in a historic warehouse, originally a meat-packing facility, with high ceilings and exposed brick walls.
Wilson & Willy’s stocks products by new, Minnesota-based companies such as Fringe & Fettle Ceramics, woodworking shop BEKA Block, letterpress printer Studio on Fire, and clothing studio Hackwith Design House as well as longtime brands Red Wing Stoneware Company, Duluth Pack, and Faribault Woolen Mill Co. Additional product lines include New York–based tool and camping brand Best Made Company and Georgia-based skincare line One Love Organics.
One of Wilson & Willy’s singular qualities is its selection of exclusive items crafted in collaboration with its vendors. Products include pendant lights that combine Conway Electric’s colorful cords with hand-blown glass lamps by Hennepin Made and a collection of ceramic cups and pots by Red Wing Stoneware Company (inspired by the sewer pipes it manufactured for city infrastructure in the early 1900s).
And John’s Faribault Woolen Mill Co. connections have come in handy, leading to an in-house line of menswear that features wool and cotton woven at the mill, as well as an exclusive line of women’s coats by Hackwith Design House that incorporates the mill’s signature blanket fabrics. It’s a marriage that only could be made in Minnesota.
Wilson & Willy’s
211 Washington Ave. N., Mpls.
612-315-2280
wilsonandwillys.com
