Meet the Local Shop That Outfits Music Stars

When Windom shopkeeper Allison Bross-White grabbed a copy of the latest edition of CityPages, hip-hop great P.O.S. stared back at her—dressed in several items from her store.

54th and Nicollet—or Southwest Minneapolis, for that matter—might not seem the most likely place to find a store that clothes the stars of local hip-hop. But don't let that fool you. Over the last two years, Bross-White has turned her store, b. Resale, into a magnet for the local music scene.

"I've had to do a lot of pulling to get the Uptown kids down here," she told Patch. "A lot of folks (in Windom) will sell us great streetwear, but they won't necessarily be the ones to buy from us."

From sneakers and inventive graphic t-shirts to dresses and jackets, the store's ever-changing collection of streetwear is worth the journey for many. While at it's core, b. is a resale shop (think consignment shop, but where the store buys the clothing right away), it even carries the work of several local jewelry and fashion designers. Bross-White said sometimes, patrons will find their way to her store after tracking down the origins of a pair of earrings they saw a friend or passer-by wearing.

More often, though, b.'s commercial success comes from word of mouth.

"We reach out to a lot of artists, get them in the store, and then they turn around and tell their friends and fans," Bross-White explained.

She will often dress local musicians like P.O.S.—a leading member of the famous Doomtree hip-hop collective—for concerts and area fashion shows. Other local artists will model some of the store's clothes in photo shoots that Bross-White uses on b.'s online store and Facebook page to draw in more customers. b.'s popularity has even reached the point where well-known artists like Slug of Atmosphere will sometimes come into the shop to sell Bross-White some of their jackets or sneakers.

"It definitely geeks some people out if I tell them they've just bought a t-shirt that used to be worn by P.O.S.," Bross-White said, smiling.