Minneapolis — For the first time ever, beloved jerky brand Jack Link’s has opened an immersive retail store in Minneapolis: Jack Link’s Wild Side. The brick-and-mortar monument to jerky is located in the renovated Target Center.
“Over the past 30 years, Jack Link’s has built an incredible base of highly passionate fans, and now we’re giving them an official clubhouse where they can connect with the brand in a personal way,” says Jack Link’s CEO Troy Link. “The store is part tribute to the traditions that got us to where we are today and the innovations that will take us into the future. It’s a place where fans new and old can get wrapped up in Jack Link’s untamed spirit, and experience hands-on all the wild and wonderful elements our brand has to offer.”
The Wisconsin-born brand infused its Northwoods heritage into each and every retail product. In addition to a wide array of meat snacks, Jack Link’s offers additional brand-new retail products, including:
- A variety of ready-to-wear graphic T-shirts.
- Sets of fine china plates on which to serve the finest jerky (choose between picturesque woodland scenes and Sasquatch maulings).
- Northwoods-inspired clothing for kids, including camo hat-and-mitten sets and fleece Sasquatch pants.
- All-terrain stone-and-timber prehistoric bicycles.
Sasquatch, the woodland man-beast, is an iconic part of the Jack Link’s brand. At the Wild Side store, customers are invited to venture around the bend from the store into a woodland clearing. There, they will be greeted by an eerily lifelike, 7-foot, chainsaw-carved likeness of the mythical creature.
Coming in 2018, meat aficionados can sample fresh-from-the-smoker jerky in experimental new flavors, hand-carried from a state-of-the-art innovation center in Jack Link’s new Minneapolis office space.
“Having the Wild Side store so close to our innovation center means we can immediately give people a taste of new products and get feedback on the spot,” says TD Dixon, chief marketing officer at Jack Link’s. “Our fans are a big part of our success and their feedback is critical. This is the most direct way for us to react to trending tastes and new product forms in real time and keep Jack Link’s bringing innovation to the category quicker than anyone else.”
Jack Link’s Wild Side store was created in partnership with Delaney Consulting, Black (retail design); Cuningham Group (architecture); Hot Dish (in-store design); and Mortenson (construction).
For more information, visit www.jacklinkswildside.com.
Jack Link’s is a global leader in protein snacks and the Number 1 meat snack manufacturer worldwide. Headquartered in Minong, Wis., Jack Link’s is a family-owned company with the mission to Feed Your Wild Side. For more information, visit www.jacklinks.com.
SOURCE: Jack Link’s