South Holland, Illinois-based home entertainment retailer The Great Escape is in talks to acquire home leisure store Master Z’s, which has locations in Waukesha and at Bayshore Town Center in Glendale.
Jim Lindenberg, owner and president of Master Z’s, is seeking approval from the City of Waukesha’s Board of Zoning Appeals to adjust the occupancy requirements of an expansion on the existing location. In a letter to the board, Lindenberg explains that this is necessary before he can sell Master Z’s to The Great Escape.
On Sept. 12, Lindenberg gained approval for a 25,000-square-foot addition to the Waukesha Master Z’s store, located at 1005 Spring City Drive, bringing it to a total of 39,000 square feet, split between 80 percent retail and 20 percent office/warehouse. According to Lindenberg’s letter, The Great Escape business model is 90 percent retail and 10 percent office/warehouse, but the company would be willing to settle for an 87/13 split, which he is now requesting.
According to Lindenberg’s letter, “I was made aware that a large Midwestern competitor to my business, The Great Escape, was looking into a Brookfield location,” so he contacted The Great Escape to ask if the company would instead acquire Master Z’s.
The Great Escape has met with Lindenberg several times and “indicated strong interest,” in November coming to an agreement on sales numbers, Lindenberg wrote.
This would be the first Wisconsin location for The Great Escape, which has 26 locations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio, as well as an Illinois distribution center. The retailer carries similar home leisure items to what Master Z’s sells, but also carries hot tubs, pools and fitness equipment. Lindenberg says in the letter the retailer would carry on with the Master Z’s expansion, while also increasing inventory, sales and jobs in Waukesha.
“I am respectfully asking the City of Waukesha to consider this minor adjustment to the previously approved occupancy breakdown to assist me reach an agreement with the buyer,” Lindenberg wrote. “I personally do not want them to go to Brookfield and certainly do not want to compete with them just a few miles away should they break off negotiations due to rejection of my request for an amended occupancy breakdown.”
Lindenberg’s request is up for review at the Jan. 9 Board of Zoning Appeals meeting.
Lindenberg, a serial entrepreneur, previously sold Waukesha-based World Class Wire & Cable Inc. for $60 million in 2008, then bought the Milwaukee Wave indoor soccer team, which he sold in 2013. He then purchased sports memorabilia retailer Legends of the Field, which last year acquired Master Z’s Dart and Pool Supply, the largest pool and billiard retail store in Wisconsin, as well as Wauwatosa-based bobblehead supplier BB’s Bobbles.
A Master Z’s spokesperson this morning confirmed all of the Legends of the Field locations, which were most recently in Greenfield, Mequon and Delafield, have closed.
Lindenberg was part of an effort to open a National Bobblehead Hall of Fame Museum in Milwaukee, and in July was part of a group led by Johnny Vassallo that purchased the former Edwardo’s Pizza property in Wauwatosa.
As of September 2015, Master Z’s had six full-time and four part-time employees. Neither Lindenberg nor The Great Escape president Marc Rush could be reached for comment about the acquisition.
