A montage of retail

Three stores in one on State Street

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Madison is known as a city that prides itself on, well, itself. Eating local is cool. Shopping small is expected. Supporting neighborhood businesses is just what you do. And that’s what the folks at the recently opened Tailgate, the Coffee Shop and Don’t Ask Why like about being here.

According to store manager Becca Swalla and assistant store manager Natalie Schneckloth, participating in Madison culture is an integral part of the new State Street stores’ business model.

Tailgate and Don’t Ask Why are connected via the Coffee Shop; all three are on the ground floor of the Hub apartments. And they’re all part of American Eagle Outfitters, their financer and parent company. This sort of “store montage” is the first of its kind for the company, with two more similar retail arrangements coming soon to Knoxville, Tenn., and Athens, Ga.

Todd Snyder, a graduate of the University of Iowa, was interested in vintage collegiate graphics and began running a screen-printing business out of his dad’s basement. Production increased, and, in 1997, Tailgate was born. It stayed a wholesale, web-based business until Nate Kaeding, a former Hawkeye football player, approached Snyder about bringing his products to Iowa City. In 2014, the first brick-and-mortar Tailgate opened. A year later, in November 2015, American Eagle acquired the brand.

Now Tailgate is licensed with more than 50 colleges to produce official logo merchandise. Madison’s Tailgate, only the second physical location for the business, opened May 12; it features lots of old-school Bucky designs and a local T-shirt collection, with shirts commemorating places like Wando’s, Dotty Dumpling’s and Badger Liquor. Most of the distressed-look T-shirts are $30-$32; a hooded Bucky sweatshirt is $69.

The store is decorated with UW memorabilia, from old photographs of famous Badgers to wooden baseball bats. Tucked away in the back of the store there’s even a vintage Coke machine that dispenses glass bottles. Getting one of the Cokes is reserved for customers spending over $100 at the store, which even the clerks admit is pretty easy to do.

Tailgate’s merchandise is meant to create warm, fuzzy memories of shoppers’ college years; the look and feel is supposed to hark back to the days when the business was run out of Snyder’s dad’s basement. However, the overall sophisticated merchandising and the prices don’t really bring to mind a DIY operation. That said, all the vintage logos are quite local and kind of fun.

Tailgate’s sister store, Don’t Ask Why, is another sub-brand for American Eagle that makes women’s “one size fits most” clothing. This is a bit misleading, as the loose-fitting casual wear — shirts, skirts and shorts — appear to range between a conventional extra-small and possibly a medium.

Madison’s Don’t Ask Why has what’s referred to as a “living wall,” which has a vertical irrigation system that allows plants to grow from it. More succulents in terracotta planters complete the decor. (The low-maintenance “air plants,” which grow without soil, sell for two for $5.)

Swalla says another wall in the store is reserved for a quarterly exhibit intended to showcase work by UW-Madison art students. The store sells select American Eagle and Aerie goods as well.

While patrons browse, the Coffee Shop provides refreshments. Here’s where the local connection really kicks in; the shop brews locally roasted Kickapoo Coffee and sells Batch Bakehouse pastries and Wisco Pop sodas. The space is clean and bright, with natural light streaming in from large windows that open onto State Street in good weather.

The Coffee Shop is meant to make this more than a typical retail space, to create an environment that gets shoppers excited about being there, says Swalla. Customers are welcome to order a drink, lounge on the sofa, “do their homework, listen to music — you just kind of hang out here,” says Swalla. “And then maybe you stop over at Tailgate and buy a T-shirt for the next Badger home game coming up. Or you have some event coming up with one of your sororities, so you stop over and you buy a cute tank top or dress from Don’t Ask Why.”

Tailgate/Don’t Ask Why/The Coffee Shop

575 State St., 608-286-1808, tailgateclothing.com, ae.com/women-don-t-ask-why