National Retailer Closing Third Ward Store
Upscale chain RH is leaving Wisconsin for a second time.
RH Outlet. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
RH, formerly Restoration Hardware, is exiting Milwaukee.
The upscale furniture retailer is closing its only Wisconsin store, an RH Outlet at 224 E. Chicago St. in the Historic Third Ward.
The store will close March 1. All the merchandise in the 27,000-square-foot space is already marked down 20%.
RH is poised to trade a Wisconsin store on a street named after an Illinois city for an Illinois store on a street named after a Wisconsin city. A sign outside the store suggests shoppers trek 58 miles south to visit the Vernon Hills, Illinois, store when it opens Feb. 26 on Milwaukee Avenue.
The Milwaukee closure comes a decade after the store opened. It replaced Rubin’s Furniture, which spent more than two decades in the three-story building. An affiliate of Madison-based Rubin continues to own the property.
The space remains available for lease through Colliers International, though the entire building is slated for redevelopment.
NCG Hospitality submitted plans last July to convert the 86,704-square-foot building into a 134-room AC Marriott hotel. An AC Kitchen restaurant and bar would fill the first floor. The plan was approved in September.
The RH closure is not unexpected. In a members-only bulletin, Urban Milwaukee reported last June that the store was slated to close. A month later, the hotel plan emerged.
It’s not the first time RH has left Wisconsin. After a dozen years in business, the chain closed its Mayfair Mall location in 2012.
The Third Ward building was constructed in 1915 as a factory for Monarch Manufacturing Co. It was once used to produce leather jackets for the U.S. Air Force.
The upper floors of the building are currently used as office space, but are mostly vacant. Marketing and advertising agency Cramer-Krasselt has its Milwaukee office in the building.
NCG previously hoped to open the hotel in summer 2027, but it has not advanced to construction. The firm, which owns and operates The Trade hotel at 420 W. Juneau Ave., is also pursuing a second Deer District hotel, which is expected to be developed first. A company representative told Urban Milwaukee in September that the Moxy Hotel proposed for 430 W. State St., near Fiserv Forum, is on track to start construction in spring 2026.
After publication, a NCG representative said there were no significant changes in project timing and confirmed the Moxy Hotel would be developed first.
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Restoration Hardware. Photo taken by Jeramey Jannene on May 13th, 2016. All Rights Reserved.
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Prior to the mid 2010’s,Restoration Hardware was a different, and better, retailer. About that time, it went from a vintage-inspired house and hardware store, to a seller of upper end (and almost museum quality} high priced furniture store. It became so overpriced that they lost a lot of the loyal customers that once found it nostalgic—to a a store that was too exclusive. What a shame.