{image1}Sage Schwarm and Becky Heck were tired of wishing someone would open a trading company on Kinnickinnic, so the couple sold its coffee shop, the Hi-Fi Café, to two employees, and brought the dream to fruition.
Luv UnLimited, across the street from Hi-Fi at 2649 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., is a hodgepodge of super-crafty, creative-and-usable wares.
"We're a trading company," says Schwarm, 38. "We buy clothing (and stuff) from the public for cash or in-store credit."
Schwarm and Heck shop estate sales weekly, and sometimes haunt rummage sales or thrift stores. Consequently, some days they throw as many as 50 new items into the zany miscellany.
About 20 local artists -- including Heck -- offer pieces on consignment, including wallets fashioned from duct tape, groovy glass blown rings and wrist cuffs so cute you might want to marry one.
Other boodles for sale include vintage and new clothing, shoes, jewelry, body products, gifts, hair adornments, house wares and more. Most of the stuff's recycled in some way, like vintage necklaces restrung with a few modern beads mixed in, or retro buttons sewn onto new coin purses.
They also feature local DJs spinning records and a selective selection of vendible vinyl. Plus, a Ms. Pac-Man game is on site, ready to gobble your quarters.
"It's a lot of funky, fun stuff," says Heck.
"It's functional art," adds Schwarm.
Best of all, the prices are straight-up luvable.
The couple, which owns a home together in Bay View, plans to specialize in silk screening. Schwarm mentioned the possiblity of creating a medicine cabinet silk screened with Pee Wee Herman's head, and says Luv plans to sell and display more "non functional" art in the future.
Schwarm and Heck agree that the possibilities are limitless.
"It's a treasure shop," says Schwarm, a former member of Wild Kingdom, Citizen King and The Thousandaires (among others). "You'll never come in here and find the same things twice."
Luv UnLimited is open Tuesday-Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more info, call (414) 744-2540. Luv Unlimited's Web site is luvunlimited.com.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
