A man's market: beer, salvage and dress shirts

It's a marketer's nightmare assignment: Organize an event around the two things that most men hate most -- shopping and choosing clothes.

What sounds like a sure-fire miss turned into a surprise hit last year, drawing about 700 men and a few women. This year's Northern Grade Men's Market Saturday includes twice as many vendors and is expected to draw an even larger crowd.

How do organizers lure Y chromosomes to a fash bash? Avoid anything resembling a mall. At the event location in Architectural Antiques salvage shop in Minneapolis, wares are displayed on old whiskey barrels, fireplace mantels and quarter-sawn oak. Food and beer can be consumed on the premises, no coasters needed. From the deck, Golden Leaf cigar shop reels in customers who can smell the smoke a block away.

"The event taps into a rough chic inherent in American men," said Samuel Fehrenbach, manager at MartinPatrick3 men's store in Minneapolis. Although the prices might make Fleet Farm shoppers flinch, he said the American-made brands show a commitment to lasting quality. "Men want classic goods instead of something that's fleeting," he said, helping to explain why a guy won't give up his threadbare hoodie.

All of the merchandise is American made, and many of the 30 vendors are from Minnesota, including Red Wing Shoes, J.W. Hulme Co., MartinPatrick3, Pierrepont Hicks, Duluth Pack and Faribault Woolen Mills.