(AllHipHop News) Dr. Dre’s Beats by Dre has landed in Lower Manhattan, opening what is the first ever Beats by Dr. Dre store.
The store opened last night on 67 Greene Street, with several major industry players were in attendance including, Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre, Will.i.am and Luke Wood.
The pop up store, which will be serving the needs of music enthusiasts from Nov. 3rd to Jan. 15th is nestled amongst the fashion district’s sheik stores and yet rustic environment.
“The Beats store belongs downtown right now. It’s got the right environment, the right feel with the cobblestone streets,” Jimmy Iovine told The New York Post. “Beats is as much about fashion as it is about audio, we wanted to plug into a place that had quality and Luke [Wood] thought that we should try a place downtown.”
Beats Electronics President and COO Luke Wood also explained how the area’s history reflects the style and essence of Beats by Dre Headphones.
“Beats has a history, so doing it in SoHo — which has a history of being creative and on the edge — is where Beats should be,” Wood explained to The New York Post. “We want [the customer] to understand the idea behind Beats, the emotion of sound, the feeling of sound, we want them to understand it’s about the emotional art effect, it’s like music, film, a comic book, Beats is cultural, it’s relevant, it’s realWe want people to learn about why it sounds that way, the narrative. It’s really a way to tell our sound story.”
Iovine believes that the headphones have become a cultural phenomenon and that they are breaking boundaries both culturally and socially.
Even Green Bay Packer Aaron Rodgers and T.I. have received their customized versions of the the high end headphones.
The shop also serves as a deterrent to would be bootleggers attempting to sell knock-off versions of the high-end headphones.
“One of the things we care about the most is stopping the people making bootlegs, which are of inferior quality and helping the people who are getting ripped off. There are only a certain amount of dealers that carry our stuff, we don’t sell them to everybody. With this store and the Beats website, we have a place where people can get them legitimately,” Iovine said.
The very first pop-up store will not only sell headphones, the store will also carry the full line of Beats products including the Solo, Studio, Pro and Wireless versions of the headphones and other Beats-related merchandise.