Schuster's
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Schuster's, officially Ed. Schuster & Co., now defunct, was a popular department store chain in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The chain opted for neighborhood stores over a downtown location. It was bought in 1962 by Gimbels, which operated the old Schuster's stores for a while as Gimbels Schusters. Schuster's created the locally famous Billy the Brownie elf character in 1927 to promote their annual Christmas Parade in downtown Milwaukee.
An unrelated group of furniture stores in Arkansas, also carrying the Schuster's name, operated for many years, with locations in Little Rock and North Little Rock, as well as a Pine Bluff store that eventually transferred briefly to Conway.
[edit] Former Schuster's locations
- Capitol Court (opened 1956, later Gimbels, then Target; mall torn down)
- Mitchell Street (opened 1914, later Gimbels, closed 1984, now smaller stores)
- Third Street (King Drive) (opened 1884, later flagship store, became Gimbels, closed 1967)
- 12th & Vliet (opened as flagship, closed 1950s)
Packard Plaza was a small south suburban branch location later converted to Gimbels. Hilldale, in Madison, Wisconsin was being constructed as a Schuster's when the Gimbels-Schusters consolidation took place in 1962.
