Dressed for success: A bustling fashion scene plays out along Cesar E. Chavez Drive | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Andrea Waxman
September 13, 2019
Mention the Cesar E. Chavez Drive commercial district, and it’s likely the iconic Mercado El Rey grocery store comes to mind, along with restaurants featuring south-of-the-border flavors.
Now think again.
Walk between West National and Greenfield avenues on theNear South Side, and you will see a vibrant fashion destination, with at leasthalf a dozen locally owned clothing stores that sell styles not found anywhereelse.
Just ask Appleton resident Dulce Goiz, who recently drove toMilwaukee to shop at El Rey but decided to explore other stores nearby.
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Drawn into Sayury’s
Clothing by the trendy women’s styles in the window, Goiz said she waslooking for boots in a particular shade of blue. There are only two stores inAppleton that appeal to her preference for the feminine, sexy clothing incolors she would find in Mexico, she said.
Owner Luis Gamboa, his ex-wife and daughters Amy, 23, and Bernice, 21, operate the store at 826 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive. Sayury’s specializes in affordable, stylish club and casual wear, shoes and accessories for women brought in from New York and Los Angeles.
Farther down the street, Alejandro Rivera sells traditionalwestern/cowboy-style clothing at 1002 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive. Rivera and hiswife, Teresa, offer a wide selection of Mexican-made leather boots for men andwomen as well as classic cowboy hats, shirts, belts and jewelry at Rivera’s Western Wear.
Rivera’s draws customers from all over Wisconsin, northernIllinois, Minnesota and Michigan.
El Tianguis VIP, 1230 S.Cesar E. Chavez Drive, also sells western or cowboy styles but with a modern,urban edge, said co-owner Elias Lopez.
Lopez said his customers like Duranguense, Banda and Corridos,  genres of regional Mexican musiccreated in the 1990s and popularized in the 2000s.
“It’snot really like traditional cowboy, it’s more like a modern or urban cowboy,”he said.
Recently,he noted, El Tianguis’ merchandise has become a fusion of urban cowboy andcasual wear.
Lopez’ grandparents founded a clothing business that sold denimjeans, shirts and T-shirts near Mexico City, he said. Twenty-five years ago, IsmaelLopez, Elias’s father, started El Tianguis, which means “flea market,” near 7Mile Fair in Caledonia, Wisconsin. Elias and his older brother David joinedtheir father in the business 15 years ago.
A focus on
economic development
Since the Cesar Chavez Business Improvement District wasestablished in 2009 and residents working through the Clarke Square Neighborhood Initiative createda Quality of Life Plan for the neighorhood, the initiative and the BID havepartnered to prioritize economic development along Chavez Drive, said IanBautista, the initiative’s director.
One of the initiative’s efforts, the Farm Project, seeks to makeChavez Drive a destination by focusing on arts and culture. Some of the FarmProject’s additions include a bronze statue of Latino labor and civil rightsleader Cesar Chavez, an artist-in-residence
program and a renovated space for pop-up businesses with an art or culturalfocus.
Since 2016, the city hasinvested almost $83,000 in storefront improvements and public art on the CesarE. Chavez commercial corridor. An additional $410,000 in private investmentsbrings the total to almost $500,000, according to Natanael Martinez, commercialcorridor manager at the City of Milwaukee Department of City Development. Heanticipates that an additional $28,000 will be invested in storefronts by theend of the year.
The latest round of Chavez Drivepop-up entrepreneurs will be introduced at Ciclovia. See details below.
Other clothing stores on Chavez Drive:
•One Stop Outlet, 809 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive, sells men’s and women’s jeans, jackets and accessories.
•Envisions, 1328 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive, sells men’s streetwear, sneakers and sports logo hats and jerseys.
•ICON, 1577 W. Greenfield Ave., is a high-end designer boutique.
Ciclovia MKE
When: From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14
Where: Meet at the corner of South Chavez Drive and West Greenfield Avenue.
Why: Don’t miss the chance to experience the culture of Chavez Drive. For the fifth summer, residents and visitors will take to the streets using any mode of transportation that isn’t motor-driven — walking, biking, running, dancing, rolling. The goal of the free open streets celebration is to promote social, health, environmental and economic growth and connect Milwaukee’s diverse Near South Side neighborhoods.
About Andrea Waxman
Andrea is a senior staff writer for
NNS, where she
writes about people who do great
things as well as education, policy issues and economic development that affect
our neighborhoods. You can reach her through email or call the newsroom at (414) 604-6397.