MilwaukeeHome closing its flagship National Avenue retail shop at the end of the year

Sarah Hauer | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Brew City brand MilwaukeeHome is closing its shop on National Avenue on the city's south side at the end of the year.

Owner Steph Davies announced the closure on Instagram, saying that the brand will continue but without its own flagship store. Davies will continue to sell the entire line of MilwaukeeHome goods from her art and gift shop, The Waxwing, at 1800 E. North Ave.

MilwaukeeHome moved from its original location in the Third Ward to the smaller spot at 907 W. National Ave. this spring. Davies bought the business from creator and founder Melissa Thornton Kuykendall in July 2018.

"I thought that the continuation of MilwaukeeHome required a storefront of its own and am grateful to everyone who has shown up and shopped with us this past year," Davies wrote on Instagram. "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. There just aren’t enough hours in the day."

MilwaukeeHome started in 2011 with a screen printed T-shirt with the phrase MilwaukeeHome stacked in four lines of Helvetica font. It has since been printed on thousands of T-shirts, hats and tote bags, making it an unofficial flag for the city.

Davies wrote that the "lack of traffic in the retail location," coupled with family life (she has three kids), led to the decision to close the shop. The brand will continue to introduce new designs seasonally and partner with area nonprofits and other local businesses on designs.

"I just need to scale back and simplify things in order to be a better mom, better business owner and all around more balanced human being," Davies wrote.

MilwaukeeHome will host a sale in the National Avenue shop starting Friday for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. There will be "deep discounts after the holiday" until the shop closes.

Sarah Hauer can be reached at shauer@journalsentinel.com or on Instagram @HauerSarah and Twitter @SarahHauer. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter Be MKE at jsonline.com/bemke.