Business Owners Ousted By Walmart Relocate, but with Challenges

A new on Pilgrim Road and Main Street is expected to bring new life to a shopping center in a prominent location in the village, and construction is slated for fall.

However, as a result of the development, several business owners were under the gun to find a new location and keep their businesses alive. Fortunately, all three have found a new home, but it hasn’t been easy for them, and it has left these merchants with a bad taste in their mouths.

, and all leased storefronts in the Pilgrim Village shopping center adjacent to the vacant Piggly Wiggly. The entire building will be destroyed to make way for the new development. As a result, after their leases expired, they needed to scramble to find new locations. The process has left them feeling like the village doesn’t care about their business.

“This has probably been the worst three weeks of my life,” said Minuteman Press owner Barry Landowski. “Does Menomonee Falls really want small businesses in their community, or are they more interested in and Walmart?”

Landowski said village staffers told him they would assist him with relocating his business with grants or low-interest loans. However, when it came time to move, Landowski said he was told he didn’t qualify for any assistance.

Landowski said it was a low blow when he found out that the village would be for the razing and decontamination of the former BP gas station site.

Landowski has stayed in Menomonee Falls and moved his business into the Falls Plaza II shopping center on Appleton Avenue. He hopes to have fully relocated by the end of September. However, the costs associated with moving have created some doubts whether his business can survive.

“It’s going to cost me in excess of $60,000 for the move, and it isn’t the right economic time to be shelling money out like this,” Landowski said. “I’m not sure if we are going to make it.”

Around the corner from Minuteman Press in the Pilgrim Village shopping center was A-Cut-A-Head hair salon. For 20 years, the salon has built a strong customer base and has been a thriving business, according to stylist Judy Haasch. Unfortunately, Haasch said she feels like village officials simply ignored their business.

As a result, Haasch said they are taking the business across County Line Road to Germantown and will occupy the former Good Feet Store at N96W18058 River Edge Plaza. For Haasch, the grass has been greener on the other side of County Line.

“Germantown has been very welcoming and they are working with us diligiently so we don’t lose our business,” Haasch said. “But over here, Menomonee Falls thinks we are invisible. We have a $250,000 business that just doesn’t exist in their eyes.”

Haasch said the hardest part of past several months is that those who work at the salon were left in the dark about the future of the shopping center. She said they never received clear direction on what would happen to their business so they could plan. They now have less than a month to relocate to their new storefront in Germantown.

“We have to completely rebuild a hair salon business, which is not an easy thing to do,” Haasch said. “Our customers have been unnerved by this whole thing, but they are going to follow us to the new location.”

Sounds Audio also is in the process of moving into a new location at N95W16995 Richfield Way, next to the store. However, Patch could not reach the store owner.

The village’s role in the local business 

Community Development Director Matt Carran said he understands the frustrations of the business owners in the Pilgrim Village shopping center, but said it isn’t possible for the village to provide assistance for every business that runs into a difficult situation.

“They also have to understand the situation from a resident’s perspective. If Menomonee Falls gave money to every business that had hardship, property taxes in the village would need to rise to sustain that,” Carran said.

When asked if the village supports small businesses, Carran said the answer is “yes.” The village has set up certain grant programs that are available to businesses, , that assist small business owners in imporving their storefronts.

“We’re doing everything we can to spur small businesses,” Carran said.

He added the village must consider the overall benefit to the community when creating grants and funding programs. Carran said the village will assist businesses when they add jobs to the community, or increase the overall tax value in an area with new construction or improvements.

He said a business moving from one place to another doesn’t really add any additional value to the community as a whole, even though it may come at some cost to the business itself.