Ford Opens First Public Retail Store at Dearborn World Headquarters
Mustang gets shelf space in Dearborn, and for the first time the public can walk in and buy it.
Ford opened the doors to its first-ever public retail store at its transformed Dearborn World Headquarters campus on Monday, August 24. It has a small footprint in a very large building, but it is notable: the store is the only part of the new World Headquarters that will be open to the public on a regular basis.
The store sits on the Oakwood Boulevard side of the new headquarters, directly across from the Henry Ford Museum in the heart of the campus Ford has spent years rebuilding. Ford opened the new 2.1 million-square-foot headquarters to employees and the public at an open house last November. This is the first piece of it that a fan can walk into on an ordinary weekday.
What Is Actually In It
The assortment covers Ford’s marquee nameplates: Bronco, Mustang, F-150 and Ford Racing. Alongside the house brands are collaborations with Filson, Carhartt and Oracle Red Bull Racing, plus apparel, collectibles, gifts, LEGO sets, drinkware and lifestyle product.
For Mustang owners, the relevant detail is not the merch list. It is the merchandising philosophy behind it. Ford is describing the space as a lifestyle destination rather than a corporate gift shop, with collections curated to each vehicle brand’s own identity and an inventory that rotates on seasonal launches, new collaborations, and special product drops.
That is a meaningful distinction. A gift shop sells a logo. A brand store sells an identity, and Mustang has always been the strongest nameplate in Ford’s portfolio. If the rotating drop model works the way Ford is describing it, Mustang-specific product in Dearborn becomes something worth checking out rather than something you buy once on a museum trip.
Marsha Schroder, Ford’s director of global merchandising, framed the store as an entry point for people who are fans before they are owners, and a way for existing owners to show it. That is a fair read of the Mustang audience specifically, where the enthusiast base has always been far larger than the buyer base.
The Exhibits Around It
Ford also used Monday to show off a set of adjacent spaces that trace the company’s history and where it is heading.
The Ford Racing space covers 125 years of motorsport and the throughline from competition to production technology. Reporting from the Monday walkthrough describes a floor-to-ceiling trophy wall and a rotating vehicle display that currently includes the 2016 Le Mans-winning car, an Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 machine in Ford livery, and the 1901 Sweepstakes racer Henry Ford drove to beat Alexander Winton in Grosse Pointe, the win that helped make Ford Motor Company possible in the first place. Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Racing, noted the value of finally having a dedicated space to show that history.
Next to it is the Ford Heritage Vault, an archives space built around a quarterly rotating exhibit featuring a vehicle from Ford’s Heritage Collection along with supporting artifacts. The company’s archive material connects its past to its future, including its early electric vehicle work and how that technology evolved. A Lincoln Heritage Lounge holds rare artifacts and documents from the luxury brand, with a 1940 Lincoln-Zephyr Continental Cabriolet as the centerpiece.
Here’s what you need to know before you plan a trip. Those three spaces are not regularly open to the public. Monday’s access was tied to the unveiling. Ford archivist Ted Ryan has said the Heritage Vault will open periodically, when it makes sense, and reporting from Monday indicates the exhibit spaces will otherwise be limited to special events. The store is the only part of the World Headquarters with standing public hours.
That is worth stating plainly, because the Racing exhibit is the piece most Mustang people would drive for, and you can’t walk into it on a Tuesday afternoon. Watch for special event announcements instead.
Why It Matters Beyond The Merch
Ford executives are positioning the store as the public-facing edge of a much larger workplace overhaul. The stated goal for the new headquarters is to attract talent, tighten the loop between software, AI, and vehicle development, and give employees a reason to be in the building. By the end of 2027, Ford expects more than 90% of its global office employees to be working in new or renovated space.
The retail store is the version of that story a fan can actually touch. For decades, the closest most enthusiasts got to Ford’s headquarters was the parking lot or a museum across the street. Now there is a door.
If You Are Going
Location: Ford World Headquarters, 20901 Oakwood Blvd., Dearborn, Michigan, on the Oakwood Boulevard side of the building. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Closed: Saturday and Sunday. Note: The store is the only space with regular public hours. The Racing exhibit, Heritage Vault, and Lincoln Heritage Lounge are not part of a walk-in visit.
One practical note worth planning around: parking is set up for employees and museum visitors, so if you are coming just for the store, sort out where you’ll leave the car before you arrive. The Henry Ford Museum sits directly across Oakwood, which makes the obvious move a combined trip rather than a quick stop.
Weekday-only hours also mean this is not a weekend cruise-in destination, at least for now. Plan accordingly, and set expectations correctly: this is a very good brand store with rotating Mustang product, not a museum visit.
