Saturday morning, via Twitter, Blatz Market and Liquor, 1121 N. Broadway, announced it was closing.
Owner Joe Woelfle posted a simple Tweet with a link to a blog post titled "sad news."
He wrote: "Today it is with great sadness that I must announce the closing of Blatz Liquor. For 2 years we have worked as hard as possible to bring the biggest and best beer selection to downtown Milwaukee. We have gained an awesome group of regular customers and an even better group of friends. Sadly with some increases in monthly costs and a leveling in sales its just too much for the already slim profit margins to handle. It breaks my heart to have to do this, since day one at Chicago Ave. Liquor I had planned on opening a store downtown that catered to all the beer geeks and people that enjoy a glass of wine or a mixed cocktail like myself. I’ve sacrificed emotionally, physically, financially and loved every second of it."
OnMilwaukee.com's Julie Lawrence wrote the first stories on owner Joe Woelfle's 1,000-sq. ft. beer, wine and booze shop.
Personally, I loved this place. The "beer cave" was fun and the service always great.
Woelfle concludes in his blog that "it's not over," as Blatz has "roughly two and a half weeks to sell everything." So, get over Blatz and buy, buy, buy.
All the best to Joe and his staff.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
