The Local Store Releases New Camaraderie Tee!

Local Store Shopkeep  |

Back in March, The Local Store held another semi-regular "Local Legends" t-shirt poll, asking you to vote on designs for limited-edition, vintage-style tees featuring the logos of beloved – and long gone – local businesses. Past winners include Kerm's, Woo's Pagoda, London Square, and Timm's Dairy. And based on its massive popularity in the last poll, the newest winner is none other than The Camaraderie.

The Camaraderie Tee is available in The Local Store right now, and you can order it online right here.

After decades of fond memories as a bar, eatery, and gathering place for Eau Claire patrons, this beloved Water Street hangout was destroyed by a fire in 2001. (The building used to stand at the corner of Water Street and 5th Avenue.)

Past Camaraderie owner Sandra Giammona shared some history with us...

"My father Peter A. Giammona, and his wife, my mother Lois E. Giammona, bought the bar and building in around 1947/48. It was originally known as Pete's 5th Ave. Bar, until around 1975, when my parents sold the bar/building to my brother, Joe Giammona and his wife Mary, my sister Mary Lee (Giammona) Johnson, her husband Meriland Johnson, and myself, Sandra J. Giammona, and my husband Stuart J. Allen. It was at that time it became The Camaraderie. Even as Pete's 5th Ave Bar, it was an icon. It was when my father owned it that the University students started coming there, making it their place."