Milwaukee Post
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/110974
Heating & Cooling FURNACE ✓UPS Like us on Facebook GAS $49.95 OIL $89.95 GAS BOILER $89.95 Search for us at www.facebook.com HEALTH CARE UPDATE Many questions remain about impact of Obamacare Page 2 Experts call it onion with 'inexhaustible layers' MARK BELLING FEBRUARY 22, 2013 MILWAUKEE COUNTY'S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER Page 9 Liberals all for job creation except mines and guns and ... CROSSWORD – PAGE 18 24 HOUR SERVICE 414-321-9090 414-546-3303 pureairheatingandcooling.com Author recalls grand shopping days Paul Geenen's latest book takes trip down memory lane of Schuster's and Gimbels By TOM JOZWIK Special to The Post Where workers aren't welcome THEATER REVIEW OF 'SISTER ACT' – PAGE 14 MILWAUKEE– Schuster's and Gimbels were once department store icons in Milwaukee. Paul Geenen recalls those days in "Schuster's & Gimbels: Milwaukee's Beloved Department Stores." He summarized his book for about 85 listeners in a presentation earlier this month at Milwaukee's Central Library . A mustachioed grandfather with a rim of gray hair, Geenen noted that Edward Schuster and Adam Gimbel were natives of Germany who became Milwaukee storekeepers in the 1880s. In an era when a streetcar line connected Milwaukee and Waukesha, Gimbels opened on Wisconsin and SAVE Plankinton avenues in the larger city's downtown. "It was kind of a cheesy neighborhood," said Geenen, dotted with advertising signage and rickety buildings. The store's site was considered unlucky, more than one business having failed there. But Gimbels made a go of it and eventually "expanded aggressively ." Schuster's eschewed Milwaukee's loop in favor of residential venues: 12th and Vliet streets, Third and Brown streets and North Fond du Lac Avenue and West Capitol Drive. "All their stores were in (city) neighborhoods," noted Geenen, "and, as people started to move out to the suburbs, that was a problem." Schuster's was confined to Milwaukee, while Gimbels had stores in four cities. • The largest movie theater in the world, Radio City Music Hall in New York, opened in 1932 – it seats almost 6,000 people. • The longest movie in the world according to Guinness World Records is "The Cure for Insomnia," directed by John Henry Timmis IV. Released in 1987, the running time is 5,220 minutes (87 hours). with our Pre-Spring Specials Get Two Months FREE Rent Brenwood Park Senior Apts 9501 W. Loomis Rd. • Franklin • 414-427-8499 • Brenwood-Park.com Professionally Managed by Oakbrook Corporation Sign lease before March 31, get two months FREE rent OFFICE HOURS: M-F 9am-Noon & 1-5pm Card Night • Miniature Golf • Free Coffee Bar • Dart Baseball • Bingo • Casino Trips • Exercise Class • Billiards Birthday of the Month • FREE Friday Continental Breakfast • Wii Bowling • On-Site Bank For more facts, visit www.didyouknow.org. Local news at your fingertips 228023005 Income restrictions do apply See AUTHOR on Page 6 DID YOU KNOW? 2 Ways Enjoy Great 1Bedroom $699 Rent Specials 2 Bedroom $899 Geenen said "the other three (regions became) a drag on Gimbels Milwaukee, no question." He speculated that Gimbels Milwaukee, formally known as Gimbels Midwest, might still be operative had it been allowed to function independently of the other regions. After all, Gimbels Midwest registered nearly $200 million in sales as the corporation's only profitable division in 1985, its last full year. Historically, both Schuster's and Gimbels favored training unskilled workers, resulting in "career jobs" for "dedicated, highly trained people." As time went on, Geenen said an employee's "common refrain was, 'I came to work (for) Christmas and stayed Visit www.gmtoday.com