Last year, Zizzo Group Engagement Marketing (ZG) moved into its new Walker's Point offices at 131 S. 1st St. in Walker’s Point, but the beautiful building is anything but new.
Now, Zizzo has announced that Skilos, A Family Pet Store will occupy two thirds of the building's first floor, bringing life to the street-facing space of the building.
The new store – the name of which means "dog" in Greek – will open on Friday, Dec. 1. It will be open weekdays, 10 a.m. until 7 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.
“I received many offers to lease the space, but I took my time in making this decision because it was important to me to bring a tenant to these neighborhoods that would really benefit the local residents,” said Anne Zizzo, founder and CEO of Zizzo Group Engagement Marketing.
“Bringing Skilos to the area fits with our mission of making Milwaukee a great place to live, work and play.”
At the moment, the nearest pet store in located in Bay View, a few miles south.
Skilos has another location on the East Side at 2328 N. Farwell Ave.
As is the case at that store, the Walker's Point location – which at 3,600 square feet is about twice the size of the East Side store – will have supplies for dogs, cats and small animals like reptiles, rabbits, chinchillas, etc. It will also stock a section of live crickets and mealworms.
Pets are welcome in the shop.
“We are extremely grateful and excited for this opportunity to open a second location in the Walker’s Point neighborhood, and to also serve as a helpful, local resource for the Third Ward Community,” said Zachary Dewitt of Skilos Family Pet Store.
“We are looking forward to continuing to provide our customers with local brands and quality products that local residents love and trust.”
Zizzo Group's offices are on the second floor and the west end of the first floor of the building.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
