Locker's Right Back in Business on North Avenue

When Locker's floral shop closed a few weeks ago for a brief hiatus while the business made a move less than three blocks east on North Avenue, it was hard not to see it as the end of an era.

Locker's had anchored the corner of North Avenue and Swan Boulevard for 100 years, and was so much an icon many Tosans referred to the intersection as "Locker's corner." When the shop last closed temporarily in 2006, it was only to await taking up residence as a tenant in a new building on the same location – named Locker's Pointe by the developer in testimony to the landmark status of the former owners.

Locker's reopened Thursday, though, and so near to its original location that the continuity of the business and its locale remain intact.

"We had to find a way to stay in Wauwatosa and on North Avenue," said director of operations Emma Todt. "We've been on North Avenue for 100 years – since before it was North Avenue. I was tough leaving the corner, but we had to do something.

"We have parking! That's the big thing. Our customers complained and complained about there being no place to park. We tried to get at least a couple of dedicated spaces, but it didn't happen, so we had to find a place where our customers could get to us.

"Now, we have two lots, one to the east and one to the west."

When Locker's Pointe opened, it was as three street-level retail spaces with condos above, and it was thought that the mixed-use concept would help drive traffic for all three businesses. But the concept was almost too successful; parking was always an issue.

Locker's, now at 8851 W. North Ave., shares ample parking lots with a strip of storefronts that includes , , Anytime Fitness and , and will soon include the new Boutique B'lou.

"We're going to have a grand reopening along with B'lou and Anytime Fitness to celebrate the revitalizing of this block," Todt said. "We're looking at May 1, but let's just say early May."

If the May 1 date pans out, it will be a noteworthy anniversary for the century-old business.

"We bought Locker's on May 1, 2009," said part-owner Fred Botta. "So it's been two years for us, and Locker's as a business is celebrating 100 this year. It's been in business in Wauwatosa since 1911.

"It's an institution. Mrs. Locker's still around; she comes in and checks on us from time to time."

Something else to celebrate on this occasion is that return two years ago to local ownership. The fact is, it hadn't been an area family business since the Lockers sold it in 2000.

Botta, Chris Leffler, Rob Westphal and Mike Szohr bought the business when personal and financial problems with the previous owner in Des Moines, Iowa, put it on the market.

A four-way split of a small flower shop is not calculated to make anyone rich, but that isn't really the idea for the quartet of co-owners.

"All four of us live in Tosa," Botta said. "One of our goals was to keep it local."

And to keep it alive.