  Dtown1 Member Username: Dtown1 Post Number: 54 Registered: 08-2006 Posted From: 68.248.42.231 |
Does anyone remember the Winklemans boutiques. I remember also three location but never been to one. Could you give me the history, experience, and downfall of this store ty. | ||
Livedog2 Member Username: Livedog2 Post Number: 1054 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.223.133.177 |
 Livedog2 | ||
Detroitej72 Member Username: Detroitej72 Post Number: 164 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 66.184.3.44 |
Opened in downtown Detroit. Had a location at 7 Mile & Gratiot, Mack/ Moross, and Eastland. I'm sure they had more, but I can't remember where else. The Eastland location was remodeled about two years before they went out of business. It was intended to be the companies new flagship store. | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1093 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 205.188.116.137 |
They had locations at both the malls in the Lansing area. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 597 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 35.12.20.170 |
There was one at Courtland Center in Burton, perhaps one at Genesee Valley in Flint Twp. as well. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2787 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.43.15.105 |
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Dtown1 Member Username: Dtown1 Post Number: 55 Registered: 08-2006 Posted From: 68.248.42.231 |
They had one at the Bel-Air center before thier big Decline on E. 8 Mile rd, which Bel-Air was intentionally meant to be an outdoor mall | ||
Dillpicklesoup Member Username: Dillpicklesoup Post Number: 163 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 64.7.187.173 |
that picture looks like the winkelman's that use to be in royal oak- | ||
Wash_man Member Username: Wash_man Post Number: 87 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 68.252.8.170 |
I remember going to the store with my Grandma at Macomb Mall. She always felt she was really treating herself if she bought something there. Grandma's gone and so is Winkelman's. | ||
Bvos Member Username: Bvos Post Number: 1907 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 70.228.57.79 |
They used to have one in Lakeside Mall too. I remember the Macomb Mall one listed in Mikem's posting too (as you can tell I'm a native eastsider). Their downfall was in the 90s. From what I remember it was related to the costs of a poor and unrealistic strategy to reposition themselves and remake their image. Those costs, along with the bad management that was making them, sunk the ship. I believe Gantos met the same fate around the same time as well. | ||
Cambrian Member Username: Cambrian Post Number: 57 Registered: 08-2006 Posted From: 68.41.154.161 |
My gramma's boyfriend was a Chauffeur for Mr Winkleman in the late 70s. | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 5797 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 24.57.57.12 |
Wasn't the GP store the last area location to close? Mid to late 1990's? | ||
Hysteria Member Username: Hysteria Post Number: 1234 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 205.188.116.137 |
Was Winkleman's like a Gantos? We never had a Winkleman's here in IN. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 2722 Registered: 08-2004 Posted From: 4.229.81.74 |
I still remember that glorious "apricot" colored marble facing their Eastland store... I've been looking for that shade to do my foyer in.... | ||
Detroitteacher Member Username: Detroitteacher Post Number: 564 Registered: 06-2006 Posted From: 64.12.116.204 |
They had a Winkelman's at Wonderland Mall. I remember my sister and I, when the mall was still open air, diverting my mom's attention away from the store by causing a raucus (it never worked, she always went in...but we tried). Wink's only had one chair near the dressing room and mom could spend HOURS in that store! I can still vividly remember what it looked like inside. It was still around for a while after the mall was enclosed. Not sure when they shut down, I think it was just a few years before the mall closed. I got this from a website: Winkelman's, the Detroit women's wear store, got its start in Manistique. http://hunts-upguide.com/manis tique_imogen_herbert_historica l_museum.html Also found this info, although it's just the beginning of an article dated 1991: DETROIT -- Winkelman's has begun construction to increase its space at Renaissance Center, a hotel-office-retail complex on the Detroit riverfront. Winkelman's, based in Plymouth, Mich., will move from its current 5,000-square-foot store on Level Two of Renaissance Center to 12,000 ... http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G 1:11223348/Winkelmans+expandin g+downtown+unit+in+Detroit%7eR %7e+(womens+apparel+retailer).html | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 6697 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.136.149.133 |
Grandma's gone and so is Winkelman's. COINCIDENCE??? I think not. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 372 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 68.60.181.41 |
Gawd, Winklemans. I worked briefly at their 7Grand store (in Redford Township) in the mid-70's. My mother loved their clothes, they sold a lot of dresses and pantsuits and casual clothes. They carried the MJ label. Another local women's wear store that went bust at the same time was Alberts, which I also worked for. Do you sense a pattern? I worked at Federals (gone) Alberts (gone) Winklemans (gone) another shoe store at 7Grand (gone) Kresges (gone) Crosby Shoes (gone) an early Gap spin off called Brands (gone) Cargo Express (gone). I kill retail! | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 554 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 129.9.163.233 |
Oldredfordette--would you consider working for Wal-mart just long enough to kill them? | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 170 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 64.131.176.232 |
I'm pretty sure there was one in Fairlane as well. I hated that store. My mother, aunt and grandmother would go into Winkelman's and stay for hours. I remember always seeing a lot of mirrors in those stores... | ||
Rossco Member Username: Rossco Post Number: 31 Registered: 07-2006 Posted From: 136.181.195.25 |
Sounds like a trip to downtown Hudsons, as kids it usually turned into several hours of hell. | ||
Planner_727 Member Username: Planner_727 Post Number: 35 Registered: 07-2006 Posted From: 69.87.150.106 |
The first picture on this thread is indeed the one in Royal Oak. I can see it from my office window. Look for a post of it's current state later today. | ||
Swiburn Member Username: Swiburn Post Number: 16 Registered: 07-2006 Posted From: 35.10.67.132 |
Thanks for the Winkleman's phone book pages, Mikem. Can you tell us the year of those listings? Highland Park is a much greater mess than Detroit-hard to believe all the stores & businesses once there that have closed. | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2788 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 208.54.14.33 |
1967 | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 554 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 70.229.231.102 |
Winkelman's had "boulevard" stores - one on West Fort St., one on East Jefferson. Shopping at Winkelman's in the mid-60's was very different - even different from shopping at the pre-mall Hudson's. Winkelman's on East Jefferson (near Ashland)had hat departments with little vanity tables, each with its own mirror. My mother would sit at one of the tables and try on hats. She instructed her hovering little girls that a brimmed hat should be worn tipped over the forehead so that you could cast your eyes up and see the brim yourself. I never wore such a hat, though. Hats were out of style by the 60's. Also in front were sundries like scarves and stockings. I do not remember shoes. Some dresses and "separates" would be displayed, but most of the stock was in a back room. You would tell one of the salespeople what you were looking for (in the mid-1960's there was actually a category of party clothes called "semi-formal" that girls would wear to a homecoming, junior prom or the Venetian Night party at the DYC, but never to the Senior Prom) and your size and they would bring out a very few dresses to look at. I guess this was an "atelier" method of presenting clothes that gave each outfit a jewel-like presentation. Anyway, despite the genteel setting, I never had the impression that Winkelman's had the very best clothes. Those were to be found in Hudson's, In Jacobson's, inthe store in the David Whitney Building that I forget the name of. Winkelman's had affordable mid-range clothes, nicely presented. I must have been very affected by that shopping. I just can't stand to go into a crowded shopping floor such as in Parisian and Lord and Taylor. | ||
Ed_golick Member Username: Ed_golick Post Number: 404 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.246.55.51 |
Planner_727, That Winkelman's photo is from my original post in the Gratiot & 7 mile thread. It's not the Royal Oak store. | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 641 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.189.188.28 |
I'm trying to place where their store was in Highland Park. I don't remember it being in the block with Mary Jane Shoes and the dime store. Any hints? Oldredford.... .....that would be the Crosby's Shoes downtown, right? I worked at both it and Mary Jane...... | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 374 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 68.60.181.41 |
So did I. Who are you? | ||
Zephyrprocess Member Username: Zephyrprocess Post Number: 2 Registered: 08-2006 Posted From: 146.9.16.41 |
Southwestmap recalled: Anyway, despite the genteel setting, I never had the impression that Winkelman's had the very best clothes. Those were to be found in Hudson's, In Jacobson's, inthe store in the David Whitney Building that I forget the name of. Was that name-forgotten store the Irving Shop? | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 560 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 70.229.231.102 |
No! That must have been way too upscale for me to even set foot in! I'm thinking of the store on the main floor. Or maybe it wasn't the David whinet Building, but right next door and south. | ||
Dave Member Username: Dave Post Number: 101 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 71.244.175.105 |
The Winkie's that we knew and loved was founded by two sons of the Winkelman who opened the store in Manistique. They had moved to Detroit. One opened a men's store then realized the money was in womens clothing. He formed a partnership with his brother and they opened the Winkelman'd we knew in Detroit. Winkelman's is back!!,,,sort of. http://www.winkelmans.com/ Another Winkelman has started a web=based business under the name. Go there for a history of the stores. dave | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1531 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 66.2.148.251 |
Southwestmap, the store you're probably thinking of was Himelhoch's. | ||
Southwestmap Member Username: Southwestmap Post Number: 561 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 70.229.231.102 |
Of course! | ||
Messykitty Member Username: Messykitty Post Number: 119 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.21.198.33 |
"I remember always seeing a lot of mirrors in those stores..." That is exactly what went through my head when I first saw this thread! I think, in the eighties, they actually remodelled their stores in a glittery mirror motif. | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1532 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 66.2.148.251 |
Here's a photo of the store in Eastland, across the court from Hudson's. Photo taken close to when it opened.  wsu/vmc I learned about women's clothing stores because my grandmother work at Siegal's, not the most interesting place for a young boy to visit. | ||
Dirthead Member Username: Dirthead Post Number: 36 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 209.131.7.68 |
In high school, I worked at the Livonia Mall - I think I spent at least $50 of my $60 paycheck at Winkelman's every week. There and Three Sisters (does anyone remember that one? Didn't it actually fall under the Winkelman's umbrella?) I prided myself on wearing something different to school every day. Of course, when I actually had to start paying my own way in life, clothes became alot less important! | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 557 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 65.185.132.134 |
Dirthead--are you a Clarenceville alum? | ||
Dirthead Member Username: Dirthead Post Number: 37 Registered: 04-2006 Posted From: 209.131.7.68 |
Yes, we corresponded before I was dirthead, when I was a guest of Moretas. | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1536 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 66.2.148.67 |
This is an enlargement from a photo of the openining of the Mack 7 Shopping Center, from WSU/VMC.  Three fallen stores in a row. | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 643 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 66.189.188.28 |
Oldredfordette..... .....I worked for Mary Jane/Crosby's summers and weekends from '66 through about '69 in Royal Oak, Highland Park, New Center, and both Downtown stores. Ddowntown, I worked mostly the main (dress show) floor, and was at one of them---the one with Don Hamilton's office in it---during the riots..... | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1537 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 66.2.148.3 |
A closeup of the Winkleman's at Grand River & 7 Mile, from photo of opening day, WSU/VMC.  (Message edited by Hornwrecker on August 31, 2006) | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2795 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.43.15.105 |
That first picture looks like pure Victor Gruen. Did he design any of Winkleman's stores? Here's a close-up of the Winkleman's on Houston:  | ||
Messykitty Member Username: Messykitty Post Number: 127 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 24.21.198.33 |
^^^Just LOVE what they've done with the place. | ||
Hysteria Member Username: Hysteria Post Number: 1264 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 216.223.168.132 |
LOL | ||
Ha_asfan Member Username: Ha_asfan Post Number: 17 Registered: 06-2006 Posted From: 69.14.17.198 |
The Winkelman family was a grand supporter of the arts in Michigan. An old family with a successul business who returned a lot to the city and region. I was involved in some projects with a Winkelman matriarch, low key lady, smart, kind and benevolent. Too bad that type of family no longer exists... | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 2852 Registered: 10-2003 |
14415 E Jefferson, just east of Chalmers:  |
