Citing two years of street closings and a desire to better serve its “mainstay” clients, River’s End Gallery will close its Waukesha location at the end of the month to focus efforts on the Elm Grove location.
Owner Joan Skimmons said two years of construction on Clinton and Main streets in downtown Waukesha reduced client traffic at the store located at 380 W. Main St.
“Our clients got very used to going to our Elm Grove location and they just never came back,” she said.
The Waukesha gallery was established in 2006 and was expanded to 3,700 square feet in 2011. With sales declining, half of the space was given up to Crush Wine Bar in December 2014, leaving a 1,700 square foot space.
The Elm Grove location at 890 Elm Grove Road was added in 2013 and is 2,000 square feet.
Skimmons said many of her clients were already coming from Brookfield and Elm Grove, so the second location offered them convenience and a large free parking lot.
“Waukesha gives us clients from Lake Country and Chicago and south of Waukesha, but it wasn’t enough,” she said.
River’s End offers contemporary two and three dimensional art with a focus on traditional paintings, studio art glass, sculpture, crystalline porcelain and artful jewelry. Skimmons said she plans to keep a portion of the Waukesha location as her studio and will look to be open for the downtown art crawls. She added she is “heartbroken” to have to make the decision and wanted to thank the city and those who have supported the business.
“They’ve done all the right things,” she said.
