djdimepiece: @MyVIPhoto Brandon or Drew of Club Ritz via their clothing store, Rags Menswear Downtown, Cincinnati
about 3 hours ago
treaderome18: @MissTiffanyyAnn is he gon be at the Ritz or Bogarts?...i swear nobody knows...
about 4 hours ago
mickierat: Good god is this a dentist's office or the Ritz Carlton?
about 9 hours ago
dottymummy: @AingealE I wasn't but now I am... what shall we have? Quaglinos do a very good Margharita, or we could Champagne Cocktail at The Ritz?
about 14 hours ago
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Changes coming to the Shops of Grand Avenue. |  |
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 | By Jeff Sherman   OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Jeff Sherman |
| Published June 14, 2008 at 8:36 a.m. |
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The Ritz Camera Center, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave., inside the Shops of Grand Avenue is closing. A sure sign of the decline in demand of photo processing and even more so of the nearly constant turning of the retail tables at the Downtown Milwaukee mall.
In regards to the constant turn at the Shops of Grand Avenue one new store, Scented Garden, opened in late May. It's a bath and body shop that offers lotions, bath beads, and customizable products. Scented Garden is located on the second level in the New Arcade.
In the food court, Tossed will open July 1 on the west side. Tossed will provide create-your-own salads, a soup of the day and a variety of other luncheon options.
"In the coming months, shoppers will see many other specialty shops, possibly to include a women's and men's boutique, a lingerie store, service related concepts such as a hair salon and an optical store, among others. National retail is also a factor that shoppers can get excited about as we have our national leasing team working carefully with exceptional retailers," said Erica E. Anderson, Director of Marketing and Specialty Leasing.
Hopefully, the Ritz space that's just adjacent to Linens "n Things will be gobbled up soon and reopened. Linens 'N Things also is closing at the end of summer (it's closing several stores due to bankruptcy), according to an employee there and recent reports from the company. Grand Avenue officials say that neither store has provided an official last day of business.
"The Shops of Grand Avenue is looking to create a tenant mix attractive to Downtown employees, residents and the metro Milwaukee area. And although Ritz Camera and Linens 'N Things are, and have been, valued tenants, we need to look to the future and to retailers that will positively impact this great Downtown shopping center and make it the center that its shoppers, owners, management, and city want it to be," added Anderson.
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9 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review. |
Recent Talkbacks ...
Posted by DowntownRed on June 29, 2008 at 2:09 p.m. (report)
"Macys, Bloomingdales, Lord & Taylor"? You're kidding right? Macy's (and its other division, Bloomingdales) is in so much trouble they are looking to close stores. And if Lord & Taylor can't make it at Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue, they are certainly not going to open a store in downtown Milwaukee. Other cities like Columbus, Cincinnati, and Atlanta are having the same problems with their downtown malls as Milwaukee. Outside of New York, Chicago and San Francisco, the downtown destination shopping does not work anymore. Grand Avenue would be smart to just ride it out until 2010 when Boston Store's agreement to keep their store open runs out. You know they are going to close that place up as soon as possible. When that happens, they should look into somehow combining it with the Midwest Airlines Center (or whatever it will be called then). If that doesn't happen, make Third St go all the way through again and use the remaining buildings to expand UWM and the YMCA there. Columbus took their Lazaurs/Macy's building and made offices for the state EPA and other offices and art and performing spaces for Ohio State.
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Posted by seahawk on June 23, 2008 at 1:51 p.m. (report)
As someone who works downtown, I really enjoy the Grand AVE. The supposed bad clientele is nothing with what Mayfair has had happen.Grand Ave. security always seems to be around. The food court is varied and clean.The parking is well lit and clean. Could the mall use some more shops/stores?, sure, but give it time and let's support downtown Milwaukee
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Posted by littlelamb on June 17, 2008 at 8:34 p.m. (report)
Diesel 1976: Fields was not "replaced" by Borders. It was vacant for years. Borders did us a favor by keeping that beautiful building from sitting empty-- a favor that has not been very profitable for them.
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Posted by brewcityeastsider on June 17, 2008 at 8:21 p.m. (report)
Linens n' things' closing could be a great opportunity for Grand Ave, it's a prime location on Wisconsin, and I could see the enormous storefront converted to shops with indoor/outdoor access, and yea I agree some higher-end stores would be great and could do really well, (with the fancy proposed hotel/retail development at fourth, the Hilton and convention center all steps away..) I mean it's an awesome building, and I totally support Milwaukee's rebirth and Grand Ave could make a huge turnaround if we support it. And to the guy who was bitching about the 'shady clientele', and the problems past 7-it's probably not gonna change if you keep ignoring it and walk around it..But if you do actually step foot in your city shouldn't you want to reclaim that mall and be able to take advantage of it? (I second the post before me)
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Posted by diesel1976 on June 17, 2008 at 8:15 a.m. (report)
If they get rid of the low class stores and dining options they will attract a better clientele. That mall can be successful but it has to change completely.
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