Posted: June 30, 2009

A luggage and gift store is back on Silver Spring Drive and a sweets and sandwich restaurant is now added to the confection of businesses on Whitefish Bay's main business district.

Although both businesses are new, both have long-standing ties to Whitefish Bay.

RedCap Luggage and Gifts, 415 E. Silver Spring Drive, succeeds Kaehler World Traveler and is owned by Jo Ann Schulz. She ran the Whitefish Bay Kaehler luggage chain store for 13 years. There has been a luggage store at that Silver Spring Drive location for some 80 years, Schulz said.

The name, RedCap Luggage and Gifts, is a bit of a tip of the hat to her father, Schulz said.

"My dad started with the (former) Milwaukee Road when he was 18 years old," she said. Her father was a conductor and eventually became the No. 1 man on the railroad's metro line in Chicago, she said.

Inside, the store has an upscale ambience.

"The whole thing has a Fifth Avenue look," Schulz said, from the giant mural of Paris on one wall to the sleek new black countertops and walls of silver and black.

The store is stocked with different luggage lines than before, now that corporate policies no longer apply.

"I get to sell what my customers have been asking for," Schulz said. The store was always profitable, she said, and was only closed because of a corporate decision.

RedCap also carries more gift items.

And What's Poppin', located at 404 E. Silver Spring Drive, is in the former quarters of the Ciao Café and owned by Whitefish Bay resident Bret Eulberg, who owns a popular jewelry store and the What's Poppin' food production plant in Milwaukee.

What's Poppin' general manager Floyd Laber can tell you just about anything you want to know about popcorn. The restaurant has 40 flavors of popcorn, including Snickers, tutti-frutti and hot cinnamon. If your taste buds favor just plain buttered popcorn, it is served with real butter, Laber said.

But the treats do not stop there. Ice cream in all sorts of forms - from twist ice cream cones to malts - are served.

More substantial fare also is served including sub sandwiches with special seasonings and "poppininis." The store's own version of panini sandwiches can get creative with one featuring a portabella mushroom marinated in balsamic vinegar, black olives and cheese, Laber said.

The store has seating inside and outside.

What's Poppin' will feature home-grown décor, too. Students from four area high schools have been invited to design and create murals for the walls.

"We thought it would be a fun thing to get the kids in," Laber said.

What's Poppin' also offers gift boxes of fudge and gift baskets of all sorts of its goodies, including popcorn and taffy.

FYI

WHAT: Grand opening

WHERE: RedCap Luggage and Gifts, 415 E. Silver Spring Drive

WHEN: noon to 3 p.m., July 11

INFORMATION: (414) 332-5900; there will be door prizes - including backpacks, luggage, alarm clocks and language translators - and refreshments served by local celebrities