Shops of Grand Avenue

Elite '08

4

188

Jen Y.

Milwaukee, WI

Going to this mall recently made me very sad.  This archecture of this place is very pretty and the mall itself used to have very cool stores.  Now, there's hardly anything worthwhile.  I hope they do something to fix it up, some of these stores in there are getting borderline 7 mile fair.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

Elite '08

12

147

Tonya C.

Milwaukee, WI

I walk the halls of this place at least weekly to get to the food court for lunch, but I'm only rarely tempted to try one of the stores. During the lunch hour, the hallways are pretty well packed, so walking with more than one other colleague isn't quite practical, though it is nice to have indoor walking paths when the winter winds start whipping through the downtown streets.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

 

4

168

Dave S.

Milwaukee, WI

Alas, Milwaukee's much-balyhooed Downtown mall has gone the way of nearly every other Downtown mall in these United States. Perhaps it's time to that we all recognize that when you shoehorn a suburban shopping paradigm into an urban center all you're going to get is mediocrity. It just doesn't work.

Downtown Milwaukee is becoming an ever better retail destination. But it's happening in spite of, not because of, the Shops of Grand Avenue.

I give it three stars because I am able to get a fair amount of shopping done here without having to deal with the crowds of other area malls.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

 

8

59

John D.

Milwaukee, WI

This mall is in a mixed-use set of buildings with everything from offices, a continuing education center from UW-Milwaukee, the YMCA, condos, and hotels all connected up via skywalks.  

The food court offers a variety of fast-food-style dining options for downtown conventioneers or visitors, including a Culver's.

Practical stores like Linens N Things, Radio Shack, OfficeMax, Walgreen's, and stores like the Boston Store, Borders, and Old Navy make it a fair shopping destination.

With such intensive all-day use and foot traffic by residents and visitors alike, it is surprising that this shopping mall has so very few offerings that appeal to the many people who are there every day or live nearby.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

Elite '08

70

154

Laura F.

Milwaukee, WI

I also remember visiting Grand Avenue when I was a kid. It was SO cool to go downtown (from Brookfield, about 10 miles away) to Grand Avenue. The mall featured shops in the old Plankinton Arcade, what my mom says was an early 1900s office building later transformed into a shopping area. There was also a modern part, that featured a third-story food court that used to have this big bear statue on a tightrope swaying back and forth over the diners. That was the kid's big draw to the mall.

During the late '90s on the few times I headed down to Grand Avenue, I was sorely disappointed. There was a period when there was literally a few stores left in the whole mall. It seemed half empty, and there was almost no one walking the halls. It was eerie even.

While its not the Grand Avenue of the 80's, with a new Borders bookstore, Linen's N Things and Office Max as well as some other chain mall stores, there is at least some draw to this mall. Sure, it's not what it used to be, certainly not a place to shop for clothes, but for books, home stuff or a TJMaxx fix, it serves a purpose.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review