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.