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A Shopping Trip Back in Time
If you’re hopelessly in love with the past – and love to bring that vibe into your home – then head north to this Washington County city boasting several new antiques stores, a vibrant downtown and a 3-mile riverwalk.
Mitchell Granados is like a Milwaukee-area version of the guys from “American Pickers.” In 2020, the Gen-Zer opened Now and Then Antiques in the former West Bend General Store. (Granados continues to run an auction house of the same name.)
Huge, vintage metal company signs join whimsical knickknacks that are both new and old. Many are seasonal items – for instance, duck- and rabbit-themed relics around Easter. A peek at the vignettes alone is worth a visit.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Downtown, Jade & Ginger Vintage lets you bask in the middle of the last century. Owner Shyleen Stogbauer’s resume includes retail and branding at Kohl’s corporate offices, and that level of detail shows in the shop she opened in 2022.
Clothes, furnishings, dishware and more from the 1930s to 1970s are styled in living-room-like vignettes – you nearly expect Don Draper to walk in. And if you like bright colors, then this shop is your jam.
If you’re the type of person who can easily (and delightfully) blow a few hours at an antiques mall, then the year-old Antiques of Yesteryears along Highway 144 is your utopia. The 40 vendors here curate retro, vintage and antique items in a 3,000-square-foot space.
Extend the history immersion from shopping to sightseeing with a self-guided walking tour of downtown West Bend. The 60 buildings featured span four blocks and were built between 1864 and 1977.
Two restaurants on the tour – The Orville (formerly The Poplar Inn, in a Cream City brick building dating back to 1858) and The Norbert (also rooted in the 19th century) – are tucked into historic buildings and open for dinner.
40 miles from Milwaukee to West Bend
On May 17, the West Bend Farmers Market kicks off a new season on Saturday mornings on Main Street downtown, continuing its reign as one of the state’s largest farmers markets, with 166 vendor stalls.
Break for lunch or dinner at Gary’s Place, tucked into a former 1906 house downtown. It’s known for its mac and cheese, which you can order with seafood or Cajun spins – or as a pizza topping.
A visit to West Bend isn’t complete without a stop at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, whose striking modernist building itself is a point of interest. Catch an exhibition of Fred Stonehouse’s surrealistic paintings and drawings on view through June 8.
