On Thursday, a Milwaukee reporter spoke with Kohl's Department Stores chairman Larry Montgomery about the possibility of building a store in the Downtown area.
Instead of replying with some sort of typical, clichéd response about the chain always looking for new opportunities, Montgomery not only flat-out dismissed the notion, he also made one ridiculous comment.
"There's not enough going on downtown for us to put a store there," Montgomery told the reporter. "Kohl's is serving customers in the city at other locations, including Bayshore."
Well, Mr. Montgomery, I beg to differ.
Downtown Milwaukee, while not the metropolitan circus of New York or Chicago, is doing quite fine, thank you very much.
There is theater. There is dining. There is nightlife. There is culture. There is entertainment. And there are quite a few people who are choosing to make Downtown their home. I happen to be one of them.
It's somewhat laughable that Kohl's, usually mentioned in news stories as Menomonee Falls-based, actually positions itself as a Milwaukee business. The company's corporate Web site has a wonderful feature talking about the merits of Milwaukee. All three of the photographs on the page are images of Downtown Milwaukee.
The site talks about all of the great things Milwaukee has to offer:
"In addition to the downtown area, the ongoing development of the city's Third and Fifth Wards along the Milwaukee River brings stylish boutiques, classy bars, delicious restaurants and distinctive galleries to the city. Families enjoy the Milwaukee Brewers baseball stadium - Miller Park, the Milwaukee Public Museum, Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin and the signature Milwaukee Art Museum addition designed by world-famous architect Santiago Calatrava.
The city's nightlife is alive with martini bars, piano bars, jazz clubs, pubs, dance clubs and more. Milwaukee's dining experience ranges from appetizing sushi restaurants and traditional American steak houses to Italian bistros and fresh seafood restaurants. Residents enjoy performances at the Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Repertory Theater and other performing arts venues within the area. Milwaukee is also known for its series of lakefront ethnic, music and cultural festivals including the world-famous Summerfest."
All that on the company's very own Web site and still the chairman says there's not enough going on in Downtown?
I spent the better part of a year fighting with a significant other because she wanted me to move to Menomonee Falls. Talk about nothing going on -- what exactly is there to do in the Falls? Is there a symphony orchestra playing on the weekends? What about dining options? I couldn't fathom having to choose between fish fries at the Schwabenhof or Trysting Place Pub for my going-out-to-eat options.
I think it's pretty safe to say there's a heck of a lot more going on in Downtown Milwaukee then there is in the Northwest suburbs. And yet, there is a Kohl's store in nearby Germantown as well as the Menomonee Falls corporate headquarters.
Forget the Downtown residents, what about the thousands of college students at Marquette, UWM and MSOE? It's safe to say they would probably be happy to have a major retailer within walking, biking or bus distance of their dorm rooms.
In an e-mail response sent Friday, Kohl's Vice President of Public / Community Relations, Vicki Shamion, referred to the number of stores located in the area.
"Kohl's has 37 stores in Wisconsin and 21 stores in the metro-Milwaukee area," Shamion said. "Three of those stores -- Bayshore, Point Loomis and Brookfield -- service customers in the downtown Milwaukee primary trade area.
"We are very committed to the Milwaukee community, home to more than 6,500 of our associates."
As for Bayshore serving the needs of Downtown shoppers, that's OK. We'd be just as happy supporting the bevy of local businesses in the Historic Third Ward and Brady Street neighborhoods. And Target, which is considering building a store in our boring Downtown, has a store near Miller Park. I'll happily spend my money on a Minnesota-based company that pays attention than a "local" company that doesn't care.
