Regent Street Market

2136 Regent Street
Madison
WI

Regent Street Market

Farmers/Local Market

Overview

No votes yet

The store opened in 1924 as the Universal Grocery and Randall Market Meats, part of the Universal Grocery Chain founded by Carl E. Hommel Sr., and his brothers. From 1912 to 1917 Hommel had supervised the dining cars on the massive special train used by Wisconsin Ringling Bros. Circus. In 1929 the Universal Grocery on Regent became part of the National Kroger Grocery chain. By 1949 the Regent Grocery had become Super IGA Store.

Many still call the store “Joe’s” after its best known owner, Joe Heggestad, owner and operator from 1974 to 1995. Under Joe’s management , the Regent Market acquired familiar features: full lines of fine meats and produce, high quality service, friendly atmosphere, and a sense of humor. The store was also nicknamed “The Little Store That Could,” and “The Little Store Where You Can’t Avoid Your Friends.” At his retirement, 500 customers gave Joe a party which made newspaper headlines. Mayor Paul Soglin officially declared it “Joe Heggestad Day.”

When the Co-op was founded in 1998, it did not seem likely that a grocery of any kind would continue, but almost 1,000 friends of the grocery came together to rescue it. In retrospect, it made perfect sense: the neighborhood had always felt as if it owned the store. Incorporating the co-op merely matched reality with perception.Since the Co-op’s founding, it has overcome many obstacles in its struggle to continue serving the community. But through member support and dedicated management–Woody Osborne in 2000-2001 and now Jim Huberty–the Co-op grows and thrives.

608.233.4329

Location:

Javascript is required to view this map.

Comments

Connections

Compare related sites, explore the related maps, find out about volunteering, how to get here and more. Soon, you will find ways to share this map here, too.

Getting Here

Contacts

Every site using the same primary Icon on Open Green Map is automatically linked here. You can compare different approaches and solutions on this map and others around the world.
Other Sites on Map
Related Sites Worldwide
Choose a connections category from the list on the left.

Multimedia

Registered users can post photos, videos, and documents here.

Impacts

No impacts have been left for this site yet - be the first!

Donate to GreenMaps