UPDATE: A Ma Maniere has unveiled its Beach concept with an opening date planned for sometime this summer. Unfortunately, it appears that this will not be a retail location for The Whitaker Group. Instead, A Ma Maniere Beach is essentially a luxury hotel with guests being able to stay on the property via reservation.
The original story continues below.
About a year ago, A Ma Maniere stirred excitement when they added a new tab to their website announcing their plans to build a beachfront property in Folly Beach, South Carolina. Architect renders of the beachfront property, deemed the Beach, depicted a beautiful multi-level beachfront retail space. Rumors even circulated of an exclusive Jordan 17 release to commemorate the opening, adding fuel to the fire of anticipation.
However, as time has passed without any tangible progress or updates, the future of this dream project appears increasingly uncertain. Sole Retriever reached out to Folly Beach's Building, Planning, and Zoning Department to see if the necessary permits and submission of building plans had been submitted by A Ma Maniere or any of its affiliates for the space. Amber Watts, a Permit Administrator and Contractor Licensing Clerk for Folly Beach, confirmed that neither A Ma Maniere nor its parent organization, Jaizai Investment Inc. DBA as the Whitaker Group, had made any such submissions for Folly Beach. This revelation suggests that the project is either on pause or potentially years away from realization, casting doubt on the near-future release of the much-anticipated A Ma Maniere x Jordan 17 Beach. Sole Retriever reached out to A Ma Maniere for comment but was unable to get a response at the time of this writing.
While it is unclear if A Ma Maniere's Beach location will come to fruition, this is not the first time uncertainty has surrounded the organization. Last year, A Ma Maniere's founder, James Whitner, was named in a multi-million dollar money laundering case. Despite the controversy surrounding the org and its founder, Jordan Brand and Nike have continued collaborative projects with A Ma Maniere and The Whitaker Group's other sneaker retailers. Stay tuned for updates on this and other sneaker news by downloading the Sole Retriever mobile app!
Cole Townsend is a developer, designer, and Head of Tech at Sole Retriever. He does some writing on top of helping keep Sole Retriever running on web and mobile! In his spare time, you can find him out running. Cole was a graduate from Williams College.
