Detail for Grand Avenue Mall : Mall

Although I've always been aware of Grand Avenue as "that crappy mall downtown" since I'm not old enough to have known of it as being anything else, I guess I didn't know of how downright depressing it is until I passed through it during a stopover in downtown Milwaukee a few days ago. The mall is quite literally desolate, except for the few cell phone stores and low-level clothing shops already discussed at length in other postings on this page. Sure, the food court's relatively appealing, and included the first Culver's I've ever seen inside a mall, but what good does that do if there's a million and a half standalone - and probably better - Culver's locations near it? I didn't particularly feel like my safety was in danger walking through Grand Avenue, but felt remarkably uncomfortable. - Andy, 04/16/2011

I have never been to this mall, but I can say this ... some of the people providing entries to this site really ought to check the spelling and grammatical content of their entries before submitting them. I have



seldom seen such poor quality in writing and never in such an unabashed manner. No wonder the mid-west in so looked down upon by those on the coasts. - jweaver, 01/25/2009

No doubt the Grand is the best looking mall in Milwaukee. Milwaukee you have so much potential! Especially that area. Mos is down there along with Johnny Walker, the Riverside the only piece missing is the Grand. Lets not give Chicago anymore of our shoppers, or money. We have a great downtown forming and now is the time to make changes! Please if anyone reads this and can do something about it please do. Mark my words, now is the time to make Milwaukee a great city again. It was in the past so many people, not lets give them a reason to stay! - Remix, 01/14/2008

This was the first time I had visited the Grand Avenue Mall. I must say unfortunately, it wasn't anything like I had expected. The feel I got from this Mall was very gloomy and not at all upbeat. To get to the food court, you had to



climb stairs and take 2 elevators. There was a very small amount of fast food restaurants to choose from. I chose the Japanese restaurant and the food was very discusting. The food was not even close to how Japanese prepare their food. I asked for Tempura shrimp with a side of vegetables. All I received was a mound of dried up long grain white rice ( not rice that Japanese would ever use at their restaurant )with no vegetables and the fried shrimp was not tempura at all. This was diffinently Japanese at all. You want authentic and great tasting Japanese food.. I suggest going to Mitsuwa Mall outside of Chicago. Anyhow, this Mall diffinently needs something to spark it up. - Ann, 05/14/2007

Beautiful mall. Easy parking. I especially like the Wisconsin store, the candy shop with taffy from Door County, the Boston Store, the smoothies and the pen shop. It's clean, and at Christmas it's very festive. - Carole, 01/08/2007

I remember going there as a kid wanting to be like that women and men who were down there. Now the Grand Avenue is nothing but a mall to the likes of



most of the north side of milwaukee....cheap 99 cent stores and even cheaper clothing.....dead and ghetto. get the crap out and get the good in. Bring back in the the bigger stores with more to offer...this is a town that is growing with more young 20 & 30 somethings moving in every year. We've got two of the best colleges located right within our downtown area....MSOE and Marquette. Anyone going there and graduating there is going to have a repectable job and if you want to live in the city and move out to the suburbs you need respectable shopping. It's a great urban area. I realize you get what you can in there, but if that's the case....get the police to work on the outside in the neighborhood so you can do better on the inside. Milwaukee needs to tidy up the downtown/northside area the way it is. ALL of my childhood memories are being erased everyday this city is not taken care of. - Stephanie - Born on the Northside, 03/29/2004

I really like going downtown to shop because of the big city feel that the suburban malls don't offer. I really think the Grand Avenue is a beautiful mall, but the selection of stores there really sucks. I don't think that Linen & Things And T. J. Max which are coming down to The Grand Mall in the Fall of 2003 are really going to be the type of stores that are going to lure the well off shoppers that The Grand Mall should be trying to lure. With all of the upscale condominiums being built downtown, why aren't the upscale stores coming in to market the wealthier better educated downtown people? It seems to me that if they are spending over $200,000.00 on condos, they can afford to shop at the more upscale stores that The Grand Avenue does not now offer. As usual, all the well heeled people are shopping at Mayfair or taking the train down to Chicago. It would be nice if The Grand Avenue could get the upper end stores and help keep our shopping dollars in downtown Milwaukee. Come on Grand Avenue, you're beautiful, so get your act together and become the mall of choice like you were fifteen or so years ago!!! - Kevin Shorewood Guy!!!, 06/06/2003

I go there every day. They have the best prices in town. They gots the tightes' shoes in town. check it out. they be hunnies there too. - pimp status, 05/31/2003

I have been doing quite a bit of shopping @the grand and have come to find that their gap is gorgeous as well as their boston store - ashlie, 05/18/2003

I think more people will start shopping there soon. Northridge and capital court closed. this made mayfair and bashore alot more busy. i think people will start coming downtown to shop again soon, though there is rumor that there might be another mall built somewhere on the far north side so i guess it all depends on weather or not they build that mall. - teen -north side, 05/11/2003

I was down at The Grand Mall today and enjoyed a nice dinner at Applebee's which opened today. I also bought the neatest little statue at this wonderful store called Village Shop. Keep up the good work Grand Avenue. Thank You, I plan to be back soon to The Wonderful Shops Of The Grand Avenue! Hey, it also looks like the city is doing a grand streetscaping project in front of The Grand Mall too. Way to go Milwaukee!!! - Tina, 04/21/2003

Let's just face the hard facts! The Grand Avenue is dead! They will never have the right selection of stores there that will lure the right selection of shoppers. They keep spending tons of money fixing the mall common areas up, but all the new stores they are getting there are low end. Will we ever see the likes of a Banana Republic there again? I doubt it. What a shame shopping downtown in a major city should be a fun experience, but no, not in Milwaukee, are you kidding? Is Milwaukee ever going to get things right with our downtown retail? I don't think so!!!! - Megan, 04/14/2003

I went down to the Grand Avenue last week, they sure are fixing the place up real nice. I was disappointed that there aren't many nice stores there anymore. The Boston Store is still o.k. and so is the food court, and the Walgreens is still o.k. Maybe if they get more stores there I will start shopping there again on a regular basis. - Tessa, 03/12/2003

That Grand Mall has sure gone to the dogs. They keep spending all of that money fixing that place up, but the quality of the stores keeps going down. What's with that dumpy Rainbow store down there anyhow? What a dump! - Bob from Shorewood, 03/03/2003

I went down to The Grand Mall the other day and thought to myself, WOW WHAT A NICE BOSTON STORE! Just one nice department store down there, but not much else. They spent all that money making The Grand look nice, but there isn't a whole lot of nice stores there like years ago. I sure hope The Grand makes a big turnaround for the bettr. Time will tell I guess. - Grace-Milwaukee, WI, 01/24/2003

Well, after going to the Grand for over ten years, and working there as a teenager, I still think it's a great place. Renovations are almost constant, so it's never realy the same place twice. - Gaijin, 01/16/2003

I heard they are getting two big new retailers in the Plankinton Building by the Fall of 2003. Let's hope this is the start of more stores to come and getting the crowds back to the mall the way it was back about ten yeara or so ago. The Grand Mall should be the most popular mall in the city again, if only they would get the right selection of retail there, and if the city could lure a high end department store downtown. We might want alot for our money in Milwaukee, but we don't mind paying for quality if it is offered to us. Let's again make shopping downtown the destination of choice!!! - Chuck from Milwaukee, 01/08/2003

The Grand has a nice Boston Store, though it is a bit smaller than the other Boston Stores at the other malls. One thing is for sure, even though the mall is half empty now, that means the mall is also half full. The Grand Mall sure is a pretty place to shop but, it's a pure shame there isn't more upscale stores like the other malls have. I hope the recent remodeling lures some high end retasilers back downtown again, because i love shopping at The Grand and probably I always will! - Jen from Milwaukee, 01/06/2003

I think The Shops Of Grand Avenue is the most beautiful mall in all of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area. It's a real shame that more people don't shop there. If more people would support The Grand, maybe we might get classier stores down there. It's the prettiest mall anywhere. THANK YOU!!!!!! - Barb From Mequon..., 01/06/2003

The Grand Avenue is A Great place! It's time that the people with the big bucks from The Third Ward and The East Side start spending their money at the downtown mall,and then you will finally see the more upscale stores come downtown that will help give The City Of Milwaukee a much more cosmopolitan feel. After all, the downtown is the visual icon for the metropolitan area. The Grand Avenue is probably one of the most elegant styled shopping centers in The United States. Come on the well heeled of Milwaukee, start supporting your downtown mall. I am sick of being in the shadow of Chicago all the time, together we can make this change. SHOP DOWNTOWN AT THE GRAND AND YOU REALLY WILL START TO SEE A TRUELY GRANDER DOWNTOWN!!!!!!! - Bill From The East Side, 12/30/2002

Tell us about your experience at Grand Avenue Mall
1 planet: Below par, skip it.
2 planets: Has redeeming facets.
3 planets: Decent, worth checking out.
4 planets: Excellent, we'll be back.
5 planets: Stellar .. out of this world!
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