The DJ Takeover sponsored by Level Up is a program for listeners to discover their favorite artist's favorite artists, working to foster connection to the music and makers inside and outside our city. For the entire hour, we go down the rabbit hole of stories from their past, experiences of the present and goals for the future.
What does Milwaukee lose when small local businesses close?
“It starts to get scary,” explained Cris Siqueira, co-owner of Lion’s Tooth bookstore in Bay View. “If you go to every town and everything looks exactly the same, you have the same chains and the same order inside of the businesses.”
Strange Town bartender Colin Mitchell added, “All of these businesses — the bookshops, the restaurants, the record stores — that's what makes up the DNA of a city. The people are going to define the city. But where are those people going? Where do you find those people? Without small businesses, those spaces, you're gonna have less options, less character and, in the end, less identity.”
Throughout 2025 and into the early days of 2026, we saw the closure of many small businesses in Milwaukee. We said goodbye to Beans & Barley after 52 years, Riverwest Co-op after 24 years, This Is It after 56 years, and National Cafe after 15 years, among countless others. As each one closed, there was a collective ache from Milwaukeeans.
I wondered why these felt like personal tragedies, how it was possible to lose so many beloved spots — both new and old — and whether there was any possible way to prevent this. So I reached out to two small businesses that have faced modern obstacles and invited them to the studio for this DJ Takeover.
Strange Town is a natural wine bar serving plant-based small plates on Milwaukee’s East Side, owned and operated by Mia Le Tendre. Lion’s Tooth is a bookstore and art space in Bay View that specializes in zines, prints and comics for kids and adults. The shop is coming up on its fifth birthday, and is woman- and immigrant-owned by Siqueira and Shelly McClone-Carriere.
For her part, Siqueira defined “small businesses” in an inclusive way.
“There's the mega conglomerates, the national chains, the international chains. But I think there are also levels of small businesses,” she began. “There's the local chain, which can be a little bit bigger … like different restaurants that belong to the same group. Then you have the mom and pops that are smaller shops.
“Then you have the tiny, tiny, tiny shops that are like Lion's Tooth. And most record stores are like that. They work with a skeleton crew of not a lot of people. A lot of those, they become a labor of love. Kind of like you don't go into it for the money. If you wanna lose money,” she finished with a laugh, “I actually advise going into book selling.”
Mitchell and Siqueria explained the businesses they represent are more than the goods served; they’re places for the community to gather, to feel seen and to feel safe. Both have seen growing engagement, yet Siqueria notes it hasn’t been enough to compete with rising costs of owning, operating and stocking a business.
Mitchell also noted a recent trend of plant-based businesses closing. “There's kind of like a cultural trend maybe away from a plant-based lifestyle,” he said, “especially with the way that certain figures are highlighted on social media. There's a lot of skepticism around … a plant-based diet and the ramifications of that, ecologically and socially and politically.”
We know small businesses define a city. We know they’re cultural hubs that offer a sense of Milwaukee pride and purpose. So how do we protect them moving forward? “There's not as many dollars going around these days,” Mitchell said. “But when you do have them, keep 'em in your local ecosystem.”
Making bookstore co-owners everywhere proud, Siqueira added a poetic note. “When you buy books or when you buy records or when you go out to eat, go where your heart calls you to something more unique, a unique experience that you could only have that night in that place or that day in that place.
“Show up. Make community.”
DJ Takeover: Small Business playlist
- The Trusty Knife, “A Flash in the Pan”
- Magdy El Hussainy, “Music de Carnaval”
- Secos & Molhados, “Sangue Latino”
- Sade, “Is It a Crime”
- Toco, “Zum Zum”
- Chico Buarque, “Apesar de Você”
- Kaytranada, “2 the Music”
