Historic Mitchell Street’s oldest business is closing
Holzman Furs will sell off inventory
Conrad “Connie” Holzman and his family business Holzman Furs on Historic Mitchell Street are admittedly old school.
“Made In America” is the only sign of quality he wants to see.
And he hates online shopping. “Nowadays, what you buy is crap,” Holzman said. “The reason you’re buying online is because you’re lazy.”
Holzman Furs, where shoppers for decades could find mink coats, sable stoles and beaver hats, is closing at the end of the month, and Mitchell Street will lose its oldest business.
Holzman wears a shirt and tie every day to work at his store, one that’s been in business for about 100 years on Mitchell Street.
“If you carry decent merchandise then you shouldn’t dress like a slob,” he said. He used to wear suits but sweaters are easier now that he’s 88.
He’s kept his family’s business where it always has been — on Milwaukee’s south side. While other shops and department stores left the declining business district, Holzman remained, most recently at 1111 W. Historic Mitchell St.,
But there’s a time for everything to end, and it’s closing time for the furrier.
“I really don’t want to,” Holzman said. “I would like to continue but I can’t do it.”
Holzman has run the store well past traditional retirement age simply because he likes working.
But he can no longer see the furs he sells. His eyesight is reduced to mostly shadows, he said. He spends most days in his office, next to a wall of Post-it Notes that he can no longer read.
Sometimes, he’ll take his walker out onto the sales floor where there’s a chair for him to sit and talk to customers. Mostly, he likes to say, he aggravates people with his chitchat amid the racks of merchandise priced to sell.
The offerings are a mix of unsold goods, coats that were stored or cleaned and never claimed and Holzman’s own collection. A mink stroller once priced at $20,250 is now listed for $8,950.
The unclaimed furs are brought to Holzman for him to price by feeling the hairs for texture and quality with his expert touch.
Holzman has pared down his own collection of furs. He used to have many but now wears just two. He has a long fur-lined cashmere coat and a reversible mink and leather jacket he wears when it’s cold enough. A plain old leather jacket keeps him warm the rest of the year. The store has been his entire life. Holzman grew up above his father’s store at 633 W. Historic Mitchell St. next to bridal gown shops, department stores and other retailers. He was helping out cleaning coats by age 9. At 10, he was skinning muskrats.
Holzman worked there after school and on weekends. When he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1953, Holzman’s career as a fulltime furrier began. He took over the business from his dad in 1972.
In 1984, he moved the store from its longtime spot at 633 W. Historic Mitchell St. a few blocks west. A Dollar General store now occupies that old lot.
Holzman Furs’ 5,000 square-foot store took up just part of the old Grand Department Store, an art deco building built in 1937. His former wife Phyllis and business advisers told him to move away from Mitchell but he chose to remain, thinking the area would make a comeback. It never did, he said.
“I remember as a kid coming down here with my mom because this (Mitchell Street) was a place to shop,” customer Sharon Rothstein, 80, said at the store Saturday. “I’m sorry that it isn’t anymore. I really am.”
All the old department stores have closed. The Modjeska Theatre is closed. A day labor business is now moving into the former Schuster’s Department Store.
“It looks like a blighted area now,” said LaMarr Franklin, who bought a chinchilla jacket for himself. “It was booming before.”
A strip of Mitchell Street from South Sixth and South 13th streets is part of the Historic Mitchell Street Neighborhood Conservation Overlay Zone that encourages the development of shops, restaurants and other retail uses.
“As with many commercial corridors in the city of Milwaukee over the years, there have been many changes,” said Nancy Bush, the executive director of the Historic Mitchell Business Improvement District. “What we’re finding now is much more cultural diversity.”
Lopez Bakery, which started in 1973, is likely now the longest-running business on the street, Bush said.
“All of us on Mitchell certainly hate to see that very long term business close,” said Bush, adding that she hopes another retail business takes the place of Holzman Furs.
Sales at Holzman Furs have declined in the last few years.
The store hit its peaks in the early 1980s and 1990s, Holzman said. A daughter, Susy Holzman Sennett, operated a second location, Holzman Furworks, in Mequon for about a year. It closed in 2009 and she is no longer involved in the business.
Another factor was the animal rights movement. The backlash against killing animals to create garments from fur curtailed his business, Holzman said.
“Animals to me are precious but they die,” he said. “I just don’t understand this. Furs, believe it or not, are biodegradable. Plastic is not biodegradable.”
The Holzman closing will leave Milwaukee with just one fur store, A.J. Ugent Furs at 8333 W. Capitol Drive. The Ugent family has sold furs since 1922. Rodney Ugent remembers picking up furs for cleaning from at least 58 furriers in the Milwaukee area.
“They’re all gone,” Ugent said. With each local store closing, he sees an uptick in business. His sales are increasing, with around 20% coming from online shoppers.
The Holzman building, owned by
Madison-based Wisconsin Bank and Trust, is up for sale. The bank acquired the property in a foreclosure auction last year, according to state real estate records.
Holzman hates hearing people say they’re sad to see small retailers go out of business. “Why the hell didn’t you buy from them to keep them going?”
He’s moved to Thiensville where he has an apartment in an assisted living building. One of his employees drives him to work every day in his Lincoln MKS.
He’s probably the only person in his complex who still goes to work.
Holzman, who easily talks about Mitchell Street’s prime, clams up when thinking about what he will do without the store.
He knows the assisted living complex has programs for its residents.
“They have activities,” he said. “I don’t know if I like them. I’ve never done them. I’ve been at work.”
When the store closes, Holzman will stop wearing a tie daily. He doesn’t care what replaces his shop on Mitchell Street. Now, he’ll finally have the time to see if he likes bingo.