We asked what Milwaukee stores you miss the most. There was one clear favorite.
Last month, the Journal Sentinel asked readers, "What stores in Milwaukee do you miss the most?”
The overwhelming winner? Boston Store.
There were over 50 responses and the former department store, which originated in Milwaukee in 1897 and closed in 2018, had 23 of them. No other stores came close, with Sears, Gimbels, Marshall Fields and Watts Tea Shop the only other businesses with more than one response.
We also asked readers a few other questions about their most missed stores.
Asked if they had been able to find a suitable replacement for the closed store, almost 40 said they hadn't.
About 30 said no stores had replaced the empty sites that once housed their most missed stores. That's a moving target, though, as recent developments at a former Boston Store site show.
The most important part of our survey, though, was asking people to share their favorite memories at each store.
The responses were given anonymously. However, we followed up with some respondents to get more details and share those memories.
Read on for some of the favorite memories readers shared with the Journal Sentinel:
Boston Store remembered for Christmas, childhood memories and an important dress
Brad Lehman recalled that, in around 2006, he took his daughter, Brooke, to get her first pair of heels at Boston Store at the Mayfair mall. She was only 12, and the trip was prompted by a cousin’s upcoming wedding.
Lehman was ready to watch her wobble as she stood, since she had never worn heels before.
“I thought this would be awkward to watch and, sure as heck, she put on her first pair and she glided,” he said. “I think I just saw my little girl grow up right in front of me, She was just so stupidly graceful.”
Lehman has moved to Massachusetts but makes occasional trips back to Milwaukee. Brooks has commemorated her time in the city with a “414” tattoo. And that trip to Boston Store has become a treasured memory.
“It’s kind of cringe because it’s a rite of passage," Lehman said. "This was watching her become a big girl all at once.”
Stories like Lehman’s were among the best shared with the Journal Sentinel. Others like Mary Lucci echoed it.
In the late ‘80s, Lucci needed a dress for an important business dinner at her bosses’ home. She worked at Northwestern Mutual in its underwriting department and had just moved into management. This dinner seemed to underscore her professional growth.
“I really wanted something special,” she said. “That was a big occasion for me, being invited to a dinner with some higher-up people and moving into that management range.”
She knew Boston Store was the place to go. Lucci, now 72 and retired, found the perfect dress — lightweight and navy-and-blue patterned, with “big boxy pleats” on the bottom and a bright red belt to pull it together.
The dinner went well, she recalled, and the dress became a part of her wardrobe, though she noted “it wasn’t a frivolous dress.”
For Bryan McCormick, the store became a much-anticipated stop around Christmas.
McCormick — who now lives in northern Virginia but grew up in Milwaukee and was recently a library director in Janesville — cherished what was a tradition. His family lived in Brown Deer and Bryan was one of eight kids.
During the holidays, they would go to the Grand Avenue Boston Store, and he would always buy his parents a meat-and-cheese box, while he would get to peruse the toys and chocolates for himself. He had just received his driver’s license, too, so it became a regular destination to practice driving, as he drove his mother to the store and back.
“We’d get all dressed up. It was a big event,” McCormick said. “Around Thanksgiving, I’d always say to my mom, ‘We’re going downtown (right?)’”
He lived in Janesville when Boston Store closed and recalled being saddened at the news. After going there as a child, it became his Christmastime shopping spot as an adult, too. He would buy his wife perfume or a nice blouse, or maybe a new pair of boots.
More: Boston Store has been 'The Heart of Milwaukee' for more than a century
Others missed include Atomic Records, more department stores
While Boston Store was the most missed store, many respondents had touching memories of others, too. We collected some of our favorites here:
Grasch Foods offered hard-to-find goods
Grasch Foods was a longtime fixture of Milwaukee. Anton and Mary Grasch opened the first Grasch Foods Market in the early 1930s in Milwaukee at North 45th Street and West Lisbon Avenue.
The last store was at 13950 W. North Ave. and was sold to Sendik’s Food Market in 2016.
“The exotic meats in the freezer (ostrich tenderloin is incredible), the pate in the deli area, employees that sincerely wanted to be helpful," one reader said. "So many things made the store stand out.”
Atomic Records 'felt like home'
The beloved record store Atomic Records was open for 24 years, from 1985 to 2009. Located at 1813 E. Locust St., the store has a lingering presence in the city.
A still-active website sells some records and branded shirts. A tagline on the site says, “Milwaukee’s Finest Semi-Defunct Alternative Record Store.”
When the store closed, the Journal Sentinel described it as a “mecca for fans of indie music releases” and that it closed for three reasons: the popularity of free music downloading, the demise of the CD and the Great Recession.
“Anytime you went, it just felt like home," a reader said. "All the staff were the best, but the random bands they would have come in were just the most awesome thing ever.”
Gimbels gets a shoutout for its 'panache'
Gimbels, part of an old guard of department stores in Milwaukee, closed its downtown location in 1986, after Marshall Field’s (another store later shuttered) took it over that year. The business had opened its West Wisconsin Avenue location in 1887.
That transition was lamented by one reader, who shared their thoughts on the store, “(It) gave Milwaukee some East Coast panache yet still felt like Milwaukee (take THAT, Marshall Fields!)”
More: Our Back Pages: When we went to Gimbels to watch TV — and saw Joe McCarthy make history
George Watts & Son was an elegant shop
The former gift store and tea shop at 761 N. Jefferson St. was a favorite among respondents, particularly those who used it for wedding registrations.
The storefront closed in 2016, after Sam Watts, the company’s CEO, converted it to an online retailer. Put simply, one respondent said George Watts was remembered for “the elegance of the store and its offerings.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Readers pick Milwaukee's most missed stores and share their memories
