After Pandemic Opening, Wauwatosa Shop Marks 1 Year Anniversary

WAUWATOSA, WI — A small business in Wauwatosa is celebrating its one year anniversary after opening during the pandemic.

Mark and Melissa Bauer celebrated the one year anniversary of the Flannel Fox (7602 Harwood Avenue) in the Wauwatosa Village over the weekend.

The Flannel Fox sells clothing, home goods and gifts. Mark Bauer, who owns the store with his wife Melissa, ran another store in the Northwoods town of Boulder Junction for over a decade before to coming to Wauwatosa. The owners describe their store's decoration as "urban Northwoods."

The shop opened in May of 2020 amidst the disappointment and uncertainty of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the owners said that their first year went well and they found returning customers in the village.

Bauer said it felt amazing to be open for a year after a pandemic.

"Once they started lifting the mask mandate, I noticed that the parking lot off Wauwatosa Avenue fill up almost immediately," he said. "People are getting back out there and moving around."

He said that people were upbeat about the store's opening last year, but the business had to accommodate for the lack of in-person shopping with an online presence.

"We tried to flood the market with things on Facebook to keep our name relevant and out there even if people weren't walking around," Bauer said, adding that integrating into the local community was also helpful to their store.

The Flannel Fox will treat this year like its first, said Bauer, adding that the business will try to dial into what customers are looking for now that people are out and about.