My Block: Milwaukee’s nerdiest neighborhood

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My Block: Milwaukee’s nerdiest neighborhood

PrevNextComic books, science supplies, and action figures. There’s a corner in Milwaukee that some have called ‘Geek Street’ for its eclectic mix of nerdy shops.

MILWAUKEE — After some perusing on Google Maps, a section of Milwaukee caught my eye. Three eclectic shops that all share the same parking lot.

Usually, a neighborhood, or even a small town, will have just one shop like this. But inside this business parking lot off Oklahoma Avenue in Milwaukee, there are three hobby shops. Those stores are American Science & Surplus, Lost World of Wonders, and Albella Bargain Store.

“Each store appeals to a different kind of nerd, you know what I mean? You have the science nerd, we’re comic book nerd, and Albella gets the rest of them, I guess,” Halie Fischer, a manager at Lost World of Wonders, said. It’s primarily a comic book and manga store.

American Science & Surplus has a long history in Milwaukee and has been a beloved store for decades. They sell a little bit of everything with an emphasis on gadgets, electronics, gizmos, and doo-hickeys that you would use to tinker with on at-home projects.

“I do think that it’s cool that, you know, so many people come in here, and it was their childhood thing, and they’ve been coming here for 40 years. So when people tell us their stories about keeping it alive and whatnot and coming into thank us, it feels good,” Lily Ward, the store manager at American Science & Surplus, said.

Albella Bargain Store is a collectibles shop primarily focusing on action figure-type toys.

“Like wake up every morning, and I’m happy to do what I like. And it’s – this country give you a lot of good opportunities. You just have to be smart, work hard, and you can follow your dreams over here,” Gabriel Panta, the owner of Albella, said.

All the stores appeal to some type of nerd-dom, making this one of the nerdiest sections of Milwaukee. It’s one-stop-shopping for anything you’ll ever need.

James Groh

“We’re sort of like smack in the middle of like a lot of sort of like Milwaukee locals weekend tradition,” Fischer said.

Just by coincidence, these similar yet different shops all ended up in the same strip mall on Oklahoma Avenue in southwestern Milwaukee. It got me thinking – how much do these businesses interact with each other, and is there competition between them? I wanted to learn about their neighborhood through their eyes and experiences.

Welcome to the neighborhood some have called Geek Street, Nerd Mall, and the Trifecta (they’re still workshopping the neighborhood name).

American Science & Surplus, at 6901 W Oklahoma Ave., has been in business in Milwaukee for 45 years. If there was a visual representation of the word eclectic, it would be this shop.

“Usually, my go-to phrase is a little bit of everything. I mean, so you come here either for something very specific or nothing at all,” Ward said.

James Groh

The store has everything from an oscilloscope to random electronic parts to beakers to purple Christmas trees to old-fashioned war helmets to rubber chickens to at-home science kits to retro lunch boxes and almost anything else.

“(We’re) trying to build up the emphasis on science cause over the last couple years it seemed to have dwindled down. We’re also trying to build up electronics. The owner wants it to be the electronics headquarters of Milwaukee. Like, you know, everybody loves Radio Shack, used to love Radio Shack. She wants to bring that back,” Ward said.

Ward called the neighborhood the Trifecta. They all work together. Even though they are similar, there is a lot of camaraderie between them.

“I’m known by (the other stores). I go over there pretty often myself. But a lot of our staff goes to Lost World and occasionally Albella to just buy stuff, so we’re all very friendly with each other,” she said. “You hit one, and you go to the others. Yeah, I have heard of that.”

As an insider, Ward sees the three stores as being different from each other. However, the overlap creates a cohesive community feel.

“So I think we’re all very different, but we can all have very similar tastes,” she said.

If you watch the story, you will see how happy Ward is when talking about American Science & Surplus. So I asked her, why it makes her smile so much.

“I don’t know. I love it. I’ve stayed this long for a reason. I like going back to how it’s kind of my safe space,” she said.

Watch the story below…

My Block: Milwaukee’s nerdiest neighborhood

The next store over is Lost World of Wonders. It has been open for 30 years and has been in its current location at 6913 W Oklahoma Ave. for 26 years.

“Our primary focus is comic books. But because we have such a large physical space, we can also sell all sorts of different things related to pop culture. So we have a lot of manga, which is Japanese products, figures, toys, model kits, trading card game products,” Halie Fischer, a manager at Lost World of Wonders, said.

James Groh

An entire long wall of the shop is dedicated to manga. It’s a popular genre and only growing more. However, the lifeblood of the shop, what keeps customers coming in every week, is the ‘New Release Wall’. Each week it’s updated with the newest comic books.

“This is where you can find whatever is new and hot,” Fischer said.

That wall brings in many repeat customers, creating a true communal feel inside the shop. And after they shop at Lost World, Fischer said customers will often visit one or two of the other shops. Like she said, it’s part of a weekly tradition for many.

“We get so many people who come in that we recognize because they come in all the time. But they do the whole strip. They hit up Science and Surplus. They come over here, and then as we are checking them out and bagging them, they’re like, ‘ Alright, let’s head on down to Albella. Let’s go check on the other store,'” Fischer said.

James Groh

Even though Lost World also sells figurines, they are very different from what Albella has. That means Fischer and other employees are often suggesting customers go to the other shops to find what they need. Chances are, American Science & Surplus or Albella has it.

“If you don’t find something here, you’re definitely going to find something at the other two stores,” she said.

It’s a symbiotic relationship between them all.

The final stop is just next door – Albella Bargain Store at 6921 W Oklahoma Ave.

“So I end up living the American dream, doing what I like and living the dream,” Gabriel Panta, the owner of Albella Bargain Store, said.

James Groh

Panta came to America from Romania, where he was a lawyer. The store started as a buying-and-selling shop for household items he’d find in storage units after bidding on them at auctions. Then he switched to collectibles.

“Everything from action figures, all kinds of toys, vintage, newer ones, to gaming, and consoles, and, you know, the collectibles,” Panta said.

Albella is the newest shop on the block. It opened in 2012.

“If you are a little bit nerdy, you like the toys, you just have to have fun with your kids, and just go out, this is the perfect place. All three stores, they just blend together perfectly,” Panta said.

Just like the other shops, if he doesn’t have what a customer is looking for, or if he thinks the other stores, especially Lost Wonders, would know more about a certain item, he will gladly send them over there.

James Groh

“Even me people coming to sell me toys, okay I’m buying toys, and whoever is coming to sell me comic books, I send them over. Hey the next door, they probably going to be more interested, and they’re more knowledgeable in that. So try them out. And Science & Surplus, I send everybody over there with the small kids,” Panta said.

These are all longstanding businesses. That means, despite having overlapping customers, each store is independently successful, and there’s enough business for everyone.

As is tradition in the My Block series, the last word is always given to the tour guide of the My Block story. Because there is no singular tour guide like other stories, Halie Fischer, Lily Ward, and Gabriel Panta all get to share the last thoughts.

Before that happens, here is how you can be part of the award-winning series. Reach out to me, James Groh, to nominate your neighborhood or a neighbor to be featured in the next story. You can fill out this submission form or contact me at james.groh@tmj4.com or call/text at (414) 254-8145. The series covers all types of neighborhoods and communities. Previous examples include stories on a mother-daughter duo revitalizing Metcalfe Park,a rural neighborhood where the same families have lived for 186 years, how one woman is keeping a watchful eye on her neighborhood,the Dharmic temples of Pewaukee, how Latino immigrants adapt to life in Milwaukee, and many more. Watch the other 34 My Block stories here.

Now back to the three interviewees.

“I love this neighborhood,” Gabriel Panta said.

“You should come visit my neighborhood, especially if you’ve never been here before. There’s something for everyone, and you should bring your whole family,” Haile Fischer said.

“You know, I’m hoping everyone can see how wonderful we are still, and we’re still around, and then the same for Albella and Lost World. I hope everybody I hope they’re doing well. But I hope this helps rediscover us,” Lily Ward said.

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