Premium outdoor gear and apparel retailer Yellow Wood will close its doors in Whitefish Bay at the end of March after 11 years in business.
Moshe and Debra Katz, Susan Masket, and Marty Stilling co-founded the store in 2015, which has built a loyal following through its hands-on product expertise and environmental stewardship. The business takes its name from Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” poem, which begins with the line: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.”
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Stilling and Masket retired in 2020, with Moshe and Debra Katz owning and operating the store ever since.
“Yellow Wood was never just about selling gear,” Moshe Katz said in a statement. “It became a gathering place for kids after school, for friends to linger and talk and for travelers to discover brands they’d often never heard of to keep them safe and comfortable amidst their adventures around the world.”
The shop earned a reputation for its commitment to quality, sustainability and real-world “pro-testing,” Katz noted. Staff and owners personally tested most of the gear Yellow Wood sells – from backpacks to boots, water bottles to windbreakers – by hiking in destinations such as Patagonia, Mount Everest Base Camp, Machu Picchu and Kilimanjaro.
Customers have been known to share photos of their travels with Yellow Wood’s flag.
“Our staff is one of the things we’re most proud of,” Katz said. “They are hard-working, deeply knowledgeable and truly driven by customer experience. Any business that values integrity, curiosity and exceptional service would be lucky to have them. We hope other local employers will see them as the incredible asset they are.”
The shop’s staff mix of students, outdoor enthusiasts and retail professionals helped establish Yellow Wood as a cornerstone of Whitefish Bay’s business district. Yellow Wood has donated more than $100,000 to 50 organizations across the Milwaukee area since 2015.
In their closing letter to the community posted on social media, Moshe and Debra Katz shared some of their most cherished memories over the years and thanked “amazing vendors, wonderful customers and many who have become friends we will cherish forever.”
“One of you is even engaged to our daughter,” the letter goes on to state. “Some of you worked here, or your kids did, or even your parents. Some trekked with us. Others stopped in just to say hello. We hold the memories we made with every one of you close to our hearts.”
Additional details regarding closing events and timelines will be shared in coming weeks. A 30% shopwide sale with no exclusions will be running till close, and there are plans for a final “Heated Sidewalk Sale” on Feb. 5-7 that starts at 40% off.
“Yellow Wood has been a defining chapter of our lives,” Moshe Katz said. “We are profoundly grateful to everyone who walked through our doors, worked alongside us and trusted us to be part of their journeys.”
Editor’s note: This article originally listed Yellow Wood as having been in business for 22 years. It has been updated to reflect the correct number.
