Comments on: Southgate Mall; Milwaukee, Wisconsin

By: M Evans

M Evans — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:42:05 +0000

I can’t tell you the memories this has brought up! I grew up near 48th and Layton and this was where we all went shopping. I remember the old Grant store and how crowded the basement was. To a small child it was like a maze!
I remember the remodel into a ‘mall’ which was just simply putting walls around the canopy…….and each store seemed to get a knotty pine diagonal wall with it’s name on it.
I later worked there. I worked at the Nastel’s Books and Things, which still had it’s original glass storefront from it’s outdoor days. Sometime later, as the mall declined, it became a fruit shop of some kind. It was the first store to the south of Gimbels/Boston Store. At night, when I finished closing, the bus driver on the 27th st route would wait for me and drive me up to the bank on the south side, outside of the mall. I would drop my deposit in, get back on the bus and ride home.
There used to be a women only Vic Tanny , near the bank and under the grocery store, with its gaudy red velvet wallpaper and gold guilded mirrors.
In fact, now that I think of it, I think I got my wedding ring at the jewelers on that end of the mall! Yikes!
This was in 1977-78 so I am a bit foggy on some of this LOL.
I later worked at a religious book and gift store across from Woolworths, but I cannot for the world remember it’s name! I have an old photo of me standing behind the register in my blue shop smock. I was 18.
I remember Captain’s too. It was where my folks went for anniversaries and the kids in high school went on dates. It was typical 70’s overkill in design. Dark and stuffed with ’ship’ themed objects….including a treasure chest for the kids to dig in.
I am sure more will come to me later and I will post it. As much as it is sad to see the past being leveled, I do like the new Wal Mart and shop there often. I think it is good to have sites like these so we can keep these malls ‘open’ though……….

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:20:06 +0000

Northgate became Capital Court. Anyways, was born in 89. So my memories of Southgate are found yet stunningly shitty. I don’t remember much, but I do remember that the Baskin Robins only served like 12 flavors.

By: Matt from WI

Matt from WI — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:22:56 +0000

@BJH,

Let’s see if this helps put the argument to rest.

Younker’s never made it to Southgate. The only reason Wisconsin wound up with Younkers in the first place was due to the acquiring of H.C. Prange Co.’s stores in 1992. Just the Prange’s end of it, not the specialty mall stores (id, Peck & Peck, et-al) or Prange Way, both of which were spun off two years prior (1990) into separate companies….Prange Way Inc for the discount store chain, and American Specialties Inc for the mall specialty shops.

On the flipside, Gimbel’s was a unit of BATUS, who also owned Marshall Field & Co at the time they (Gimbel’s) was shuttered. BATUS, in 1987, changed all Gimble locations, save for East Town Mall (Madison)’s location, to the Marshall Field’s name, while Southgate’s was simply closed down. The Southgate store by 1986 was a dated, cramped space not worth keeping open, with Southridge’s massive store only a few miles away.

For the record, East Town’s store was given away to PA Bergner / Weiss, who owned Boston Store at the time.

Boston Store’s tenure at Southgate was very short lived. It was under the corporate umbrella of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. at the time they opened and closed a mere year or two later.

Hope your co-worker didn’t put any money down on this argument. They’re going to lose the bet.

By: BJH

BJH — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:08:07 +0000

I know the answer to this question is “NO” but I need others to confirm as my co-worker and I are in an argument over this question…. Did Southgate Mall have a Younkers. I told my co-worker NO Southgate did not have a Younker’s only a Gimbel’s and a Boston Store as anchors. Who is right?

By: Rich S.

Rich S. — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:07:45 +0000

I remember the Southgate Kiddie Land and the train and they even had horse rides . I remember that they had a Midwest Auto Parts store right by the Spic & Span drycleaners . Ahh the memories during the 1960’s my folks shopping there and when in the 70’s built that God Awful Mini Mal to the front of the Center . I still have those memories even though I have been in California since 1982.

By: Matt from WI

Matt from WI — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:57:32 +0000

@ Dave: What a drag. I read your comment on here just now while sifting through archives in catching up.

John’s contributions here and what he did over at his own blog, will be greatly missed.

If I were mindful in my childhood back in the 1980s and early 1990s, I for sure would have been toting a camera and getting imagery of all the stores and malls long gone. Wisconsin’s had many of them, and few of us ‘retail historians’ who cared to even preserve the memories in an archival manner.

By: pattyfromwestmilwaukee

pattyfromwestmilwaukee — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:55:59 +0000

My fondest memories were at Christmas time back in the 50s at Southgate. In the back parking lot of Southgate, they built a small building which housed santa’s villiage. One year Santa arrived by hellicopter! OMG i remember the excitement. I think they even had a live deer one year. They must have been competing with downtown, which had the big christmas parade.

I also remember not too far away were Arlens and Treasure Island. In some of these stores (and at southgate?) where RECORD machines. Kind of like the picture booths where you get a strip of 4 photos…this type of booth recorded your voice. I think it cost $1.00 which was a lot for a kid back in the late 50s/early 60s. When the machine was done recording, out popped a small yellow record, which we couldn’t wait to get home to play it on our record player.

By: Sandra Sweeney

Sandra Sweeney — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:22:35 +0000

I was born the day Gimbels Southgate opened, October 1st, 1954. It was a shopping center then, not an enclosed mall. For several years, children born on that date in the surrounding area were invited to birthday parties at Gimbels Southgate which included entertainment, cake and ice cream, and a gift. I had an I.D. card that said “Growing Up With Southgate” on it. After the parties ended, I received a gift in the mail, and then just a card. I don’t remember exactly how many years the parties were given, but I do remember how special they made me feel. Could anyone imagine a store today doing that? I would be interested in hearing from anyone else who remembers this.

By: Prange Way

Prange Way — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:58:05 +0000

@Dave, That’s astonishing and very sad news! I actually e-mailed John somewhat recently, probably about the time he died, to ask if he had any more old photos. Now I feel creepy and terrible. He contributed many photos to this site, and I corresponded with him personally many times over the past few years. I hope someone saves his collection of vintage photos, because that would be an impressive legacy he would have wanted. RIP John!

By: Caldor

Caldor — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:09:59 +0000

@Dave, Thanks for bringing this to our attention. John was a very valued “informant” and contributor to Labelscar, and I know Prangeway had quite a bit of direct correspondence with him. He will be greatly missed as a part of this community, especially since–as you noted–he was one of the only ones who thought to take pictures of these places at that time.