Beginning next year, local lifestyle brand MilwaukeeHome will no longer have its own retail space.
Owner Steph Davies took to social media last week, announcing her decision to close the business’ West National Avenue storefront by year’s end. The brand will continue to be sold at Davies’ original retail concept, The Waxwing, on Milwaukee’s East Side.
The move comes less than one year after MilwaukeeHome opened its Walker’s Point storefront, located inside the historic J.L. Burnham Block building at 907 W. National Ave. The business had relocated from its original retail space in the Third Ward.
“Unfortunately, I have found that being a mom and owning two storefronts has me stretched pretty thin and I haven’t been able to give the MilwaukeeHome retail space the attention it deserves,” Davies said in a social media post. “There just aren’t enough hours in the day.”
Davies purchased the MilwaukeeHome business last year from Melissa Thornton, who launched the popular brand in 2011.
She said it’s been difficult to take over “another person’s vision” and establish her own identity within the brand.
“I thought that the continuation of MilwaukeeHome required a storefront of it’s own and am grateful to everyone who has shown up and shopped with us this past year,” she said.
Davies also said her priorities have shifted over the past year, due to the birth of her third child and death of her grandmother.
Although the brand will no longer have its own retail space, MilwaukeeHome will continue to partner with local businesses and nonprofits as well as roll out new designs each season, Davies said.
Starting Dec. 13, MilwaukeeHome will offer sales and discounts on merchandise at its Walker’s Point store.
