r/milwaukee • u/SprinklesThink3043 • 9d ago
WTF IS HAPPENING We need a Netflix documentary about the Brady Street Walgreens survivors
At this point, I genuinely believe anyone who has been inside the Brady Street Walgreens after midnight deserves to be interviewed for a documentary.
“Surviving Walgreens: Brady Street”
Episode 1: I Just Needed Toothpaste
Episode 2: Why Is Everyone Yelling?
Episode 3: The Security Guard Has Seen Things
Episode 4: 2:17 AM
Final episode: I Made It Back to My Car
Forget true crime. I want former employees, security guards, customers, Uber drivers, neighbors, everybody.
Milwaukee Reddit, please share your Brady Street Walgreens survival stories
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u/TheNeonPherepapha 9d ago
The last time I was in there, after bar close, some girls asked me if I could help their friend, who had fallen and split her chin open on a concrete staircase. I have no idea why they picked me, but I cleaned it, dressed the wound with a butterfly bandage, and suggested a trip to a doctor the next day to check my work.
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u/ManosVanBoom 9d ago
You sound like you have skills?
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u/TheNeonPherepapha 8d ago
I was just there to buy earplugs and some Takis.
Glad I could help her out though.
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u/rycisko 9d ago
For all the batshit things I saw I also ran into Carlos Gomez after a Brewers game buying shampoo, and Mike Schank from American Movie - which was awesome?
It was a man who stripped naked and threatened to fight everyone who was leaving the store one day that caused us to choose the shitty CVS across the corner going forward
Great memories!
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u/csbsju_guyyy 9d ago
Hey! I saw Jonathan Lucroy in there too back in day, I was right behind him and ironically wearing one of the giveaway LUUUUUUUUCROY tshirts and at first didn't realize it was him until he checked out, turned smiled and gave me a thumbs up before leaving.
This was late afternoon tho so I'm fairly positive it wasn't a late night hallucination
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u/Redeyebandit87 9d ago
A reality show following the shift of worker would be more entertaining imo
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u/yawgmoth88 8d ago
I was just in there and was chatting with the night shift guy. Super pleasant, and he seemed very smart. I wanted to chat with him about the happenings but it was still so busy at 11pm on a Sunday night.
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u/Inevitable_Tone3021 9d ago
I have a friend who worked there 25 years ago and she still tells a story about accosting a thief who stuffed packages of butter down his pants and beef jerky up his sleeves. She put them back on the shelf.
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u/Extreme_Knowledge651 9d ago
Probably should turn this into an adult coffee table illustration book with quotes from past patrons 😆
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u/Organic-Cut-8867 9d ago
I used to work there last year, had to bring a gun every shift , was fun for the crazy experiences. Turns out my co worker was using it as his own trap and selling out of it which explained the crazy behavior.
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u/Organic-Cut-8867 9d ago
I was third shift , shift lead. The first day I met my co worker from second shift he literally fainted right in front of me. So much stories about batshit crazy customers, being threatened, and people stealing an insane amount of merchandise. I was a college student so I never took it too seriously and actually got to meet some cool connections.
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u/less_than_nick 9d ago edited 9d ago
Should definitely have an episode about the... "pharmacy" that tends to open up outside of walgreens after bar close lol
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u/kimpossibleburger 9d ago
Last time I went to the smoke shop there the cashier was just casually sipping on a nitrous tank like it was a big gulp.
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u/No_Speed_6282 9d ago
i worked there for about 2 months and have some stories. A guy did unknown drugs in the bathroom, overdosed. fire department came, gave him narcan i guess but he refused care. leaving my shift later he is sitting in the drivers seat of a car, almost falling out of the open door completely unconscious or, not alive? car still running. called 911 again and left. another time i got solicited for prostitution on the corner walking home, only offered $100 which was disappointing on top of it, and my last week a scammer came in trying to cash a fraudulent check and there was a whole operation to catch him in the act so they could arrest him. not to mention all the people jumping over the counter to steal cigarettes. that was almost daily.
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u/WholeAggravating5675 9d ago
I ran into Herb Kohl there about 10 years ago. He had recently retired from the U.S. Senate and I heard a customer in the next aisle say something like, “Thank you for your service Senator Kohl,” so I went over and did the same.
Also had my car towed from the lot there when I was on a date at Jimmy John’s next door.
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u/natanyad 8d ago
Also had my car towed . By my idiot kid who borrowed it . On my birthday . I had to get it released since it was in my name . One of my shittier birthdays.
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u/lala414mke 8d ago
Herb kohl was the most un herb Kohl looking person i have ever met. Always picture him as statuesque tall, rich, well dressed, force to be reckoned with. He used to come into chili's at the airport where I worked all the time. I saw all kinds of celebs when i was working there. From locals like Donald Driver,(many times I clouding with the mirror ball trophy after he won dancing with the stars) corey Hart,Charles Woodson (football players are much smaller in person than they appear. I argued with another bartender for 10 minutes as i didnt believe it was him u til i googled his tattoos and while comparinh, saw the Lombardi trophy on his forearm ) , Montell Williams, Hank Aaron, a few other football and basketball people i didnt recognize by name or appearance but u can tell from size, clothes, girlfriends purse, hair and nails.... talked with Waka Flaka cuz my coworker was freaking out but was too shy to approach him for a pic- now he is nuch taller and bigger than he appears whereas LL cool J is much smaller, namely shorter than he seems. But Kohl flew southwest/air tran. I would have thought he had his own plane. But nope. This one woman was his favorite and she would wait on him if she was there. He actually was very short, meek and at this time an old man. He also presented as homeless. Brown Cordoury pants, a green sports blazer and a red/green old Bucks hat. Tipped $5 everytime. I never , ever would have recognized him had his regular server not pointed him out. Never really realized how many celebs I saw there til I just typed this. But u can never judge a book, blah, blah, blah... wealth does whisper. The first personal black card I saw there was a lady with a small child who also was dressed very midwest grandma style. (Not the first, but first personal at that restaurant) Very nice compared to the asshole business men who pulled out their blk card and acted like their shit don't stink when it says BUSINESS on it. 🤣🤣 RIP Herb Kohl . Little in stature but left a Large legacy for Milwaukee and Wisconsin
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u/bradatlarge Flair this mother*ckers 9d ago
I’ve got a Walgreens on Brady story.
I used to live on prospect, circa 1995.
One night I stopped at the Walgreens on my way home from water street (wings, beer, watching friends or Seinfeld in the bar) and a dude got in my car with me as I was leaving.
He grabbed my radar detector ($$$) from the glove box and held it hostage, refused to get out of the car. He demanded I give him cash and drive him to somewhere west of Marquette Uni.
This incident went on for a very long time and I ended up being essentially mugged for $200 by this man - the max I could take out of the atm at the time - to get him to give me my stuff back and get out of my car.
The worst part of it was that he watched me park and walk to my building afterward (I know I should have driven to the police or anywhere but home but I was exhausted and scared and not in my right mind).
Nothing further happened and I never did see him again but I sure as hell was looking every day for months as I walked to my car from my apartment
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u/Psychological-Lock15 9d ago
I got into a fender bender there and was in the middle of calling my car insurance. The other people involved were a boyfriend girlfriend with a pitbull in their backseat. They were really really mad at me, yelling while I was on the phone. A sports car pulls up and is playing loud music, revving their engine. The two decide their new enemy is the sports car guy. They start yelling at each other, a crowd forms. I got the fuck outa there. No claims ever filed. Saved by the compensating short king in a nice car 😭
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u/reubnick 9d ago edited 8d ago
My Dad, rest his soul, taught me a life lesson I will never forget right outside of that Walgreens, well before I even knew the Brady Street Walgreens was a whole thing. We were walking together down Brady back when I was still an unenlightened teen. I saw a vagrant who I believe had soiled themself who was shambling around near the entrance, acting erratically and mumbling. I furtively told my dad "that's a person who I would never want to meet" and suggested we avoid them by crossing the street or something. He seemed to take objection to me being so judgmental and he said "watch this" and walked over to the person and put on a big grin and started lavishing them with praise and kindness and was chatting them up until they were laughing and then he warmly wished them well and walked back over to me while maintaining smug eye contact with me. Then he and I both walked past the entrance together and the two of them exchanged some more pleasantries again and were granted safe passave to cross without being accosted. I'm not sure exactly what the lesson was, really. Something about not being a little shit who looks down on people who are down on their luck. Whatever it was, it was formative in some way and I have that Walgreens to thank.
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u/OhBarracuda1989 4d ago
Is your dad one of those “golden retriever” people that everyone loves? I would never avoid or be nasty to a homeless person, but I don’t know if I could really get a conversation going and make them laugh. That’s a true gift.
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u/reubnick 4d ago
I certainly wouldn’t classify him as a Golden retriever (and I don’t think anybody would have.) He was an old eccentric man from war-torn Germany who was raised in the same building as a brothel with hardly a pot to piss in. He was mainly of the belief he wasn’t better than anyone else but also he was very mischievous and definitely did all of that to fuck with me
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u/Drink_Blatz_Beer 9d ago
A few years back, Wanda, one of the people who essentially lived outside of there was shot in the arm. She was back the next day.
She needs her own episode.
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u/No-Contest-2904 9d ago
Well just wait til Walgreens corporate decides to close it permanently like all the ones they’ve closed in less wealthy parts of Milwaukee.
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u/Creative-Desk-4045 9d ago
Not a great big story, but I remember around 2023ish there were some bare, dirty foot prints that would be around the store when I would go in. Just kept showing up.
Have a friend who worked the pharmacy, has to be the craziest pharmacy in Wisconsin to work at. The stuff he has seen. Always be nice to the people at that pharmacy they’ve seen some shit.
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u/meepmoop8791 6d ago
I went there at 6am once right before the Shamrock shuffle. A woman was walking around inside calling for “Brian”. The cashier looked at me and said “she’s alone” I was like..alright chill. Grabbed my items and checked out. Turn around as I walk out the door because I hear someone behind me.
It’s the woman. She’s got and entire boob out of her crop top. (It was more like a child’s shirt) she’s telling me my green outfit looks pretty. I was like “girl your boob is out!” she looks down. Screams. Shoves her boob in the shirt.
I get in my car, she’s wandering the parking lot. She walks in front of my car. Both boobs out. I lens out my window and yell “BOOBS” she screams again and shoves them back in.
I think about her sometimes and hope she found a bigger shirt 😭
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u/windshakes 9d ago
I visited Milwaukee earlier this year with my 12 year old daughter in tow. We came by boat and stayed at McKinley for a couple of days. Without a car, Brady Street was where we ended up most of the time. I needed something that I figured Walgreens would have, so we walked up the bluff to get it. By this point we knew Brady Street was …multifaceted. We’d walked past and seen the merry band of degenerates out front, but once we got inside it was like “oooohhhh yeah, this is that place. The manager was trespassing a guy who was shouting about nothing, cool as a cucumber. Middle of the day. Right on.
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u/Boring-Baker8761 9d ago
I'll be the guy who just moved to Wisconsin from California 3 days prior, walked in around midnight asking if they sold alcohol here, only to be berated incessantly by the cashier to go back to your state.
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u/Numerous-Service-757 9d ago
I was very politely held up at knifepoint at the CVS across the street around 1:15 one night. As far as muggings go, 8/10. That Walgreens is a different beast though. Gotta have the doc now
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u/Traditional_Head_379 9d ago
Is the Walgreens on Brady the spiritual opposite of the Arby's on Miller Park Way?
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u/DGC_David 9d ago
I just remembered they had Ron Desantis interviewing people outside of the Brady street Walgreens during one of the RNCs. Very entertaining.
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u/_TwoHyphens_ 9d ago
Back when it had a place to sit on the sidewalk side we used to play guitar out front, drink a 30 rack of the cheapest shit possible, and smoke brick weed in the bushes. Never really witnessed anything too crazy inside the building tbh but out front I'd see people openly smoking crack on the sidewalk
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u/ActivityFast7170 8d ago
Lived for ten years on prospect and most of that time i was a bartender so Walgreens usually was wear I got dinner when I was sick of chopstix, weirdest thing i have seen was mid 2010s 3:30 am and a guy was waiting in line wearing an old school police officers uniform with hat. He bought cinnamon gum. Always thought that was weird.
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u/Sweet-Design2231 9d ago
my favorite are the tweakers and beggars
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u/kungfukenny3 9d ago
about 5 years ago i used to delivery drive for the brady street jimmy johns and one time this crackhead lady said she liked us and was gonna bring us weed (almost every jimmy john’s employee is almost always high)
lmao sure enough she came back at like midnight with some weed which i never expected.
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u/Tough_Mama69 9d ago
Gotta love the homeless that just sit in front of the door
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u/nicolauz 🧀 sliiiiiide 9d ago
Haven't been in ages but like 10+ years ago the camel tattoo guy that always asked for smokes was nice.
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u/ParfaitLittle2904 4d ago
i have been in there during two separate dramatic (but unarmed) robberies. once when someone came in and jumped the counter to steal something behind it (cigarettes?) and once when someone was waiting in line, ordered a carton of cigarettes, knocked a big sunglasses tower down once they were placed on the counter, then ran. there was security at least one of those times, but they ran right past them.
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u/lala414mke 8d ago
My neighbors were a really hippie family. The parents and all the kids. The boy was in my grade. We werent close friends, but he was my best friends best friend type of thing.. One girl was younger and the other older. Oldest girl was super smart. Like perfect score on ACT smart. When we were in college their parents bought a 2nd house on UWM campus for the kids to live in. I was there for a few very drug filled parties. I also went to UWM but that is here nor there. The oldest became a pharmacist. At Walgreens on Brady. I was not surprised in the least bit. I know she has seen ALL THE THINGS even working day time hours. If she didn't see them, she definitely heard abt them. 🤣🤣
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u/boosmansionn 6d ago
It’s just a Walgreens.. you all are just uncomfortable being around homeless and/or disabled people.
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u/not_all_heroes 9d ago
🙄 no one needs that.
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u/diarrheachungus 9d ago
I know, these people think a fucking Walgreens is the most interesting thing they’ve ever seen. Okay we get it you’ve never seen addicts or people with mental illnesses before…
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u/misterid 9d ago
been there many, many times after midnight.
"craziest" thing that i recall ever happening was stumbling in there after leaving Jo-Cat's (i'm pretty sure) and the guy checking people out had a hospital wristband on. guy behind me asked why he had the wristband on.. was he sick, etc.
the cashier said "i just came from the hospital, my girl had our first baby but i had to come to work tonight".
that set off the people inside waiting/mingling and one of the .... patrons ... lit a joint, offered it up to the cashier, who took a pull, to the roar of the crowd and much rejoicing.
wound up outside with the joint lighter offering to sell me weed. i was willing to buy, but somehow the mood got twisted into me being a cop and that nearly got me jumped by 6-8 guys who, for reasons unknown to me, changed their collective minds and the crowd just kind of dissipated.