Shops of Grand Avenue

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The Shops of Grand Avenue (colloquially referred to as "Grand Avenue" or simply "The Grand") is an urban shopping plaza which spans three city blocks in the heart of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It opened in 1982 and hosts approximately 120 stores, along with the largest food court in Wisconsin.

It was named after Grand Avenue (now Wisconsin Avenue), a bustling merchant street during the 1800s. A main portion of The Grand uses the former Plankinton Arcade (built in 1916) with many of its original features still intact. It is also named as such to help avoid being categorized as a mall, preferring to see itself more as a downtown shopping district with the pracitcal convenience of being located indoors to avoid the harsh Wisconsin winters. It connects to a number of nearby upscale hotels via skywalks to help retain this feel.

Places like The Grand are a rarity in major U.S. cities, with most malls and retail centers noted for their connections to sprawl, placing most of them on the urban fringe. It is also unique in that it was opened during a time when many downtown retail centers in major cities were shutting down. It has avoided these problems by relying on locally-owned shops that cater to the "urban" tastes of the nearby populace in addition to the national chain-stores it houses such as T.J. Maxx, Old Navy and its anchor Boston Store.

The Shops of Grand Avenue is the only major indoor shopping facility in the city of Milwaukee with the closing of Capitol Court and Northridge Mall in recent years due to competition from newly renovated malls in nearby suburbs.