From Thrift Finds to Gourmet Delicacies, Shops in Milwaukee Celebrate Diversity

Downtown Milwaukee’s artistic finds

 

Alongside downtown Milwaukee’s powerhouse museums, you’ll find some of the city's finest art retailers. The David Barnett Gallery curates more than 600 works from European and American masters, including Pablo Picasso and Milton Avery, as well as ethnographic art from Africa, Indonesia, and Oceania. Looking for a Wisconsin keepsake? Try Morning Glory Gallery, specializing in works by Wisconsin artists, or The Museum Store of the Milwaukee Art Museum. The Westown area is also home to The Shops of Grand Avenue, a mall known for traditional retailers like T.J. Maxx, as well as creative independent outposts.

 

• David Barnett Gallery, 1024 East State Street, Milwaukee 53202; Tel: +1 414 271 5058; Website: David Barnett Gallery

 

• Morning Glory Gallery, 929 North Water Street, Milwaukee 53202; Tel: +1 414 765 7227; Website: Morning Glory Gallery

 

Brady Street’s vintage shops

 

You can walk along Brady Street and take in its cafés, street musicians, and sidewalk artists, but you’ll also want to visit its unique shops that contain shelves cluttered with vintage items. If you enjoy thrift shopping and the hunt for the unexpected, try Dragonfly Vintage Goods, where you're as likely to find mint condition golf cleats from the 1960s as kitschy, retro souvenirs. Stop by Annie's Vintage Clothing and Rarities to see what proprietor Anne Tilque has on offer. You might leave with a unique piece like a wool gabardine Blatz Beer uniform jacket from the 1940s.

 

• Dragonfly Vintage Goods, 1117 East Brady Street, Milwaukee 53202; Tel: +1 414 271 1244; Website: Dragonfly Vintage Goods

 

• Annie's Vintage Clothing and Rarities, 1668 N Warren Avenue, Milwaukee 53202; Tel: +1 414 727 5586; Website: Annie's Vintage Clothing and Rarities

 

Antiques in Walker's Point

 

Of all Milwaukee's neighbourhoods, Walker's Point most retains the look and feel of its warehouse district origins. Today it’s a centre for antiques shops, and features a wide range of stores selling furniture and objets d’art. Clinton Street Antiques and its adjacent Antiques Annex are known for stylized displays of vintage furnishings. True antiques lovers won’t want to miss a visit to Antiques on Second (soon to be renamed Antiques on Pierce), a mall housing more than 150 dealers.

 

• Clinton Street Antiques, 1110 South 1st Street, Milwaukee 53204; Tel: +1 414 732 6371; Website: Clinton Street Antiques

 

• Antiques on Second, 1039 South 2nd Street, Milwaukee 53204; Tel: +1 414 645 9640; Website: Antiques on Second

 

Shopping outside Milwaukee

 

For shopping options outside the city, you can drive 8 miles southwest to niche destinations like American Science & Surplus near West Allis in Milwaukee county for science tools and supplies. If you've never partaken in a Midwestern rummage sale, make your way to a Rummage-A-Rama! event in the Milwaukee County Sports Complex in Franklin, a 20-minute drive. You'll find local handcrafted goods and upcycled vintage items.

 

• American Science & Surplus, 6901 West Oklahoma Avenue, Milwaukee 53219; Tel: +1 414 541 7777; Website: American Science & Surplus

 

• Rummage-A-Rama!, 6000 West Ryan Road, Franklin 53132; Tel: +1 414 375 2024; Website: Rummage-A-Rama!