Millbrook Hardware Braces For Customer Exodus As Bluemound Road Construction Enters Final Month

WAUKESHA — Millbrook Hardware, 2847 Bluemound Road, is entering the final month of Waukesha County's CTH JJ reconstruction project with foot traffic down and a storefront that owner Ron Hallis says has become functionally invisible to anyone traveling faster than 15 miles per hour.

Hallis, 62, has operated the store for 18 years and has kept his own tally of customer visits since construction began June 8, when Waukesha County closed a stretch of Bluemound Road between Pewaukee Road and US-18 for repaving, curb work, and utility relocation. His count shows a 12 to 15 percent decline in walk-in traffic over the nine weeks since, a figure he has cross-referenced against register receipts, a paper sign-in sheet by the door, and what he calls "a gut feeling that has never once been wrong."

"People don't turn where they can't get through," Hallis said, standing behind a counter that has sold noticeably fewer bags of deck screws since the Fourth of July. "They see the cones, they see the flagger, they assume the whole block is closed. We're open. We've been open the entire time. Come on in."

The Detour Problem

County officials post the CTH JJ detour route on orange signage at both ends of the closure, directing through-traffic around the work zone via Pewaukee Road and Sunset Drive. Hallis said the detour does exactly what it is supposed to do, which is the problem: it removes drivers from Bluemound Road entirely before they reach his store.

"The detour works great," Hallis said. "That's what's killing me."

Two other storefronts on the same block report similar concerns. One shop owner, who asked not to be named because she is still deciding whether to complain about it publicly, described her business as "a speed-bump secret" to drivers unfamiliar with the detour, adding that a regular customer of nine years recently called to ask if they had closed.

"We're open. We've been open the entire time. Come on in."

— Ron Hallis, owner, Millbrook Hardware

The Sign

Hallis's response, so far, has been signage. A hand-lettered sandwich board reading "WE'RE HERE! (Look left!)" is scheduled to go out on the sidewalk next week, positioned at the one gap in the barrier fencing where Hallis says a driver has a roughly four-second window to register the store's existence before the flagger waves them past. He has not yet decided whether to add a second board for northbound traffic, citing sightline concerns and a shortage of stakes.

He is also weighing a "rock-bottom clearance" sale to move inventory before the county's scheduled completion date of August 28, though he has not settled on which inventory qualifies as clearance-eligible. A rack of clearance-priced trowels has been near the register since mid-July and has sold two units.

"I don't want to devalue anything I'll still be selling in September," Hallis said. "But I also have 40 cases of ice melt sitting in the back from last winter that I would like to think about differently."

What The County Says

A Waukesha County Public Works spokesperson confirmed the CTH JJ project, which spans Pewaukee and Waukesha and includes full-depth pavement replacement, curb and gutter work, and utility relocation between CTH J and US-18, remains on schedule for completion by August 28. The spokesperson said the county is aware of concerns from businesses along the corridor and noted that the detour signage meets state standards for visibility and placement.

Hallis said he does not dispute that the signage meets standards. He disputes that anyone reads it while trying to merge.

"Nobody's out here reading signs," he said. "They're watching the guy with the flag. I've become background information."

Nineteen Days

With 19 days remaining until the scheduled reopening, Hallis said he has stopped adjusting his projections and started simply counting down. He has taken to greeting regular customers who do find their way in with an unprompted thank-you, a gesture he said began as sincere gratitude and has since calcified into a kind of ritual.

"Every person who walks through that door right now found us on purpose," Hallis said. "That's not nothing. I just wish it were more people on purpose."