
Inside Shure's New Downtown Chicago Facility: An Epicenter of Innovation and Style Besides offering demo and training space and production studio, it's close to customers By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Thursday, August 9, 2018 - 11:23 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Earlier this year, Shure partnered with architecture and design firm Perkins+Will to create a City Center location in the heart of Chicago's Loop. Opened in March, the 35,000-sq.-ft. space (covering an entire floor) in The National building is intended to bring Shure closer to many of its key customers - including major sports venues - as well as boosting overall growth and expansion.
On pace to outgrow its corporate headquarters in nearby Niles, IL, by the end of this year, Shure moved sales, marketing, customer service, and market development to the new downtown location. Nearly 100 Shure employees are located there, with more scheduled to make the move in the coming years.
Shure's new 35,000-sq.-ft. space covers an entire floor in The National building in Downtown Chicago.
Although the need for expansion played a role, Shure's new office also features a state-of-the-art Customer Experience Center to demo its latest video-conferencing products, a Training Center, a dedicated video-production studio, and much more.
First and foremost, says Senior Regional Sales Manager Rick Renner, our main goal with this new location was to get closer to our customers and have a space to demonstrate our video-conferencing products. In the short few months since we opened, it's already paying off, and we're just getting started. We've got customers in here [for demonstrations] almost every day, and we're now bringing integrators in so they can see it and envision how they might serve their customers. We've got customers asking not only to come in and see our products but also to see proper acoustical treatment and what the possibilities could be for their operation. So it's been a lot of fun, and we're excited about what's still to come.
Shure Tech, Style, Culture Are Evident Throughout
Inside the new offices, the company's brand, culture, and storied history take center stage. Scrawled prominently across the wall in the reception area are the words of founder S.N. Shure, which the company still lives by: We know very well that absolute perfection cannot be attained, but we will never stop striving for it.
From left: Shure's Rick Renner, Celino Ullegue, and Bill Ostry at the Chicago office
Around the corner from the main entryway is the Customer Experience Center, which features three acoustically perfect conference rooms of various sizes, allowing Shure associates to demo the latest conferencing and professional products in a real-world environment. The rooms feature a wealth of MXA910 ceiling array microphones and MXA310 table array microphones. In addition, all mics and speakers throughout the entire Customer Experience Center are running on a Dante IP network, so the different rooms can communicate with each other during demos.
The Customer Experience Center is really why we built this facility, notes Renner. We have seen big growth in the corporate market with some of the video-conferencing products that we've released over the last five years. We didn't really have the space to build anything like this in Niles, and the bulk of our corporate customers are downtown anyway.
Shure has created a fully equipped training center at its new Chicago facility.
In addition to the Customer Experience Center, Shure has erected a Training Facility equipped with MXA910 ceiling mics and an automated camera-control system that leverages facial recognition to automatically switch between the presenter up front and those in the audience asking questions.
We didn't even really have a great training space in Niles at our headquarters because it's primarily all shared spaces, so everyone is competing for the same space, says Renner. This way, we are able to have a training facility all to ourselves.
The new Shure facility also features a video-production studio and three Adobe Premiere NLE suites responsible for creating marketing, product-based, training, and social-media content.
The new Shure Downtown Chicago facility features a full production studio to create a variety of content.
It's a real luxury to have this, because we didn't have a space like it in Niles, says Renner. It's been very active in here, and it's a lot easier for our team to be downtown because it makes venues a lot more accessible. And then, in addition, they have a video-editing suite, where they have three bays and they can just edit away.
In addition, Shure's downtown office includes dedicated work areas for sales, marketing, customer service, and market-development teams; several huddle rooms (each named after a famous Chicago music venue, such as The Metro and the Auditorium Theater); new-age collaborative spaces; and a hub space fully equipped with A/V for larger gatherings. The entire floor features a sound-masking system, which allows all employees to speak at normal levels without bothering others in the workplace.
The Downtown Advantage: Sports Segment Sees the Benefits
For the company's local M&E and sports pro-audio customers, the new facility is already bearing fruit. It's walking distance from the majority of the area's major broadcasters and countless venues in the Theater District and is just a 15-minute drive from Guaranteed Rate Field, Soldier Field, Wrigley Field, and the United Center.
One of four state-of-the-art conference room facilities in Shure's Customer Experience Center in Downtown Chicago
It has definitely been easier to facilitate some one-on-one conversations with some of our top end users, says
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/03/2026
COW Jobs: Editor de V deo - Direct Response, Performance Ads - Brazil, Remote
Brie Clayton March 11, 2026
0 Comments
Editor(a) de V deo (Direct Respon...
12/03/2026
Avatar: Fire and Ash Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton March 11, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist delivers premium cinematic color across 2D, 3D...
12/03/2026
Boston Conservatory to Timoth e Chalamet: We Care About Ballet and Opera Boston Conservatory at Berklee students and faculty respond to the actors recent comm...
12/03/2026
The Late Late Show Show St Patrick's Day special
Dancing with the Stars f...
12/03/2026
GeForce NOW is bringing the game to the Game Developers Conference (GDC), running this week in San Francisco. While developers build the future of gaming, GeFor...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Matrox Video will showcase its vision for the future of live production at NAB 2026 in Las Vegas, April 19-22, highlighting how broadcasters and media organizat...
11/03/2026
Geneva-based technology company, GlobalM SA, is presenting its GMX Distributed Video Gateway, a software-defined IP media transport platform designed to replace...
11/03/2026
Backlight (booth #N2829), the company behind Iconik and Wildmoka, which power video workflows for large media and entertainment organizations, has released the ...
11/03/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, presents its latest StudioEdge models at The NAB Show ...
11/03/2026
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the expansion of Telestream Cloud Services with the introduction of UP, a new cloud-...
11/03/2026
Operative, the preferred advertising management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced the launch of AOS for digital media, an AI-po...
11/03/2026
Calrec will be located in Central Hall, on Booth C6907
Choice without compromise
The broadcast industry is going through a rapid evolution that s signalling a...
11/03/2026
The new service is hosted and operated entirely in the Netherlands, combining data sovereignty, resilience, scalability, and predictable costs without relying...
11/03/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company and leader in interactive graphical overlays, today announced the successful deployment of its platform on Red Bull TV for Premier ...
11/03/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, is advancing its Semantic Intelligence cap...
11/03/2026
Emergent, a leading provider of AI-enhanced media production solutions, today announced the official launch of Fusion, a powerful, no-code application builder d...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/03/2026
Utah Scientific today announced the expansion of its Technology Partner Program with the addition of Audinate, Bitfocus, and Skaarhoj, three industry leaders wh...
11/03/2026
DigitalGlue, creator of the creative.space on-premise managed storage platform, today revealed plans to launch creative.space Intelligence (CSI) at NAB 2026 (Bo...
11/03/2026
Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, gaming, and more, has annou...
11/03/2026
Composer and Re-recording Mixer Michael Phillips Keeley has built his career around immersive storytelling. Working from his Dolby Atmos-equipped studio, Sound ...
11/03/2026
Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that YES, the pay-TV subsidiary of the telco Bezeq (TASE: BEZQ), has selected Synamedia Iris to delive...
11/03/2026
As media companies face increasing cost pressures and operational complexity, at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global leader in OTT / TV...
11/03/2026
Digital Alert Systems, a global leader in emergency communications solutions for media providers, today announced the release of Version 6 software for its DASD...
11/03/2026
First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...
11/03/2026
Foundry releases Nuke 17.0
Brie Clayton March 1, 2026
0 Comments
Native Gaussian Splat support, new 3D system based on USD, expanded machine learning ca...
11/03/2026
Preserving UNESCO World Heritage with URSA Cine Immersive
Brie Clayton March 1, 2026
0 Comments
The Explorers turned to France's cultural landmark...
11/03/2026
I Clicked This By Accident And It Made After Effects SO Much Faster
Graham Quince March 1, 2026
0 Comments
Discover how Region of Interest in Adobe A...
11/03/2026
Cine Gear Connect Brings a Focused All-Day Experience to Industry City, NY
Brie Clayton March 4, 2026
0 Comments
Registration is now open for Cine Gea...
11/03/2026
La Vor gine Edited and Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton March 4, 2026
0 Comments
One of Colombia's most ambitious projects goes g...
11/03/2026
SoundMarket Launches 18,000 Tracks of Real Music by Award-Winning Composers for...
11/03/2026
Capta Center Supports NOVO19 Remote Production with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton March 5, 2026
0 Comments
The facility provides production and playo...
11/03/2026
DigitalGlue Ends the Post-Production Tax: creative.space Intelligence (CSI) Unif...