Winkelmans

Does anyone know what year did Winkelman womens clothing store closed it's doors in Downtown Detroit. I thought that it had closed in the late 90s.

There's some discussion about Winkelman's here from 2006. The chain went bankrupt and closed the last of their stores in 98. You probably mean when did the Woodward store close. I'm not sure of the year but technically I believe the Ren Cen location would be the last store open downtown.

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/...tml?1158502877

Winkleman's on Woodwards was also one of the last ones closed. The store in the RenCen had just gone through a major re-haul only to get closed down. The RenCen store was easily the biggest retail outlet in the place. I would estimate the closure to be sometime in the early 1990's.

The location in Lincoln Park closed sometime around 1997 or 98. I remember it was the only place where my husband would Christmas shop for me. I remember him shopping there in the late 90s.

From the Stanley J. Winkelman Collection: "Winkelman retired from Winkelman Stores, Inc. in 1984, following the corporatetakeover of the company by long-time competitor Milton Petrie and Petrie Stores – atakeover precipitated by the sale of company stock by Winkelman family members. Thestores retained the Winkelman name, but closed in 1998."

My sister and I used to cause a disturbance in front of the store, while shopping with our mom at Wonderland, to avoid going into Winkelman's. It was her favorite and she spent HOURS in there! We figured if we caused a disturbance and distracted her attention away from the store she'd bypass it. Never did work!

My mother and aunt were secretaries at Chevrolet Engineering in the Warren Tech Center for 20+ years back in the days when "proper dress" meant dresses, hats and gloves, matching shoes and purses. Winkelman's was one of their favorite places to shop. I have the same type of memories as DetroitTeacher...spending hours and hours waiting for them to finish shopping.