In February 2016, Chuck Biller, one of the owners of the Shops of Grand Avenue, sat down with BizTimes to discuss the vision he and his business partners had for the struggling downtown Milwaukee mall they had purchased two months before.
One of the ideas was to create a โPublic Market 2.0.โ

Fast forward two-and-a-half years, and sources indicate the Grand Avenue owners have tapped Milwaukee restaurateur Omar Shaikh to run a food hall at the mall.
If the plans come to fruition, the Grand Avenue food hall will join several others planned for the area, including New Land Enterprises LLPโs Crossroads Collective food hall, which is expected to open this fall in the former Rosatiโs space on North Farwell Avenue on the East Side; the food hall that will be part of the Sherman Phoenix project in Sherman Park; and the Mequon Public Market.
But before Public Market 2.0 could even be imagined, the original Milwaukee Public Market in the Historic Third Ward had to be created, and become a proven success.
Wendy Baumann, president of the Wisconsin Womenโs Business Initiative Corp., first presented the idea of a European-style market to former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist after visiting Pike Place Market in Seattle.
For the next eight years, Baumann led the fundraising efforts with retired Northwestern Mutual executive Dick Wright and Einar Tangen, former president of the Historic Third Ward Association, for the $11.5 million project.
The cost was split between private donations and grants, including a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, said Ron San Felippo, chairman of the Historic Third Ward Business Improvement District.
The market opened at 400 N. Water St. in October 2005, with a focus on fresh ingredients. But within 18 months, the market was floundering.
โWe were a little bit ahead of the game of public markets in the United States and with Milwaukee at the time,โ Baumann said. โWhole Foods was not even on the scene yet. People knew food courts, not public markets. And we were probably too aggressive in the sense of cash flow and onboarding.โ
The BID had always owned the Public Market, but suddenly found itself as its operator.
โWhen we took it over, it was three weeks from closing,โ San Felippo said. โWe were plenty scared. The first year was the hairiest. We had just taken a place that no one wanted to buy anything from.โ
The BID started having events, and changed its offerings from fresh food to prepared food.
Today, seven of the 17 vendors, including C. Adamโs Bakery, West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe and St. Paul Fish Co., are original to the market.
โThe early group had a concept that didnโt work,โ San Felippo said. โOn the other hand, we wouldnโt be here if they didnโt have the vision.โ
The Milwaukee Public Market is 28,000 square feet, with 13,000 square feet of rentable space. Since the day it opened, no public dollars have been spent to operate it.
The market reported $16.5 million in sales in 2017, up 5 percent from $15.8 million in 2016. Customer visits increased nearly 6 percent in 2017 over the previous year, to 1.6 million people.
The market runs as a business and vendors pay downtown real estate prices to be there, San Felippo said.
โ(The tenants) would say they pay too much,โ San Felippo said. โWe are a for-profit business. No one would suggest we subsidize them. But the difference with the BID operating the business is we keep an eye on the bottom line, but our bottom line goes back into the community.โ
The marketโs success has led developers from across the country to seek out advice from Milwaukee, particularly after travel guide publisher Frommerโs listed it as one of โAmericaโs Best Public Markets,โ in 2011.
Paul Schwartz, the marketโs executive director, is happy to help, as long as the developers give a donation to a local charity.
โWe feel that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,โ Schwartz said.
As far as the other food halls planned in the Milwaukee area, Schwartz believes they will serve different audiences.
โCompetition elevates everyoneโs game,โ Schwartz said. โWe are very happy with what we have accomplished here and we are not worried about our business being taken away.โ
San Felippo said as a developer, he believes everyone is entitled to try; however, he doesnโt foresee all of the food halls/public markets succeeding.
โWhat is it? Two out of 10 restaurants make it,โ San Felippo said. โBut Iโm happy 10 try. In the end, the two that make it end up providing really good food and service.โ