Meet Modern Mercantile
The story behind it all!
Modern goods, with a mercantile atmosphere. Shopping should not just be about the “purchase”. It should be about the entire process. From a friendly and inviting store, to a wide variety of items to shop for, and of course price points to meet all of our customers needs. We want to be your favorite stop in town, and for you to “tell your friends”!
Modern Mercantile is the vision of three separate store owners, under one roof. It all really started in May of 2022.
The History
The Purchase
2 E Franklin St,
Jodi Mallas and her husband Scott Roffers purchased the old Sand Knit building at 2 E Franklin St, which includes the store location of 23 E Jackson St, Waupun. While spending all their free time there over the summer of 2022, Jodi discovered some beautiful old wood floors under about 1/2 inch of layered old paint. Then the ideas started budding and just wouldn’t relent. This part of the building had a single toilet with a few makeshift walls around it, no heat, no AC, a front door that was literally falling out of its casing, boarded up windows, and some old lights that tossed sparks from time to time. But like all old, run down things there was beauty in this space that would keep Jodi awake at night. Slowly over the next few months she found herself chipping away the paint and dreaming of “what could be”.
Ready to load the store!
Things are starting to fall into place
During this time word got to Stephanie Starker of “ThatMom Creations LLC”, that her neighbor on Main St would be moving locations. Naturally, she questioned why, when and where? From there the Duo of Modern Mercantile became a trio, and things really started to evolve.
Today we are 3 separately owned and operated businesses, 0638 The Clothing Collection, ThatMom Creations LLC, and My Christmas Tree Shoppe, operating under one roof and one name, “Modern Mercantile ''. Sharing the workload of running a store with others has proven to be an amazing adventure thus far. We love offering our customers a wide assortment of goods under one roof.
Up at Night
Opening Date
Jodi and Andi Colker started working together prior to this time, when Andi came to My Property Shoppe as a Real Estate agent. Knowing that Andi owned a store downtown Waupun called “0638 The Clothing Collection”, Jodi had many questions. Jodi has said for a long time, “When I grow up, I want to have a Christmas Tree store.” Finally, it was said, “Andi you just have to come see this place.” From there things started to come together. Plans were made and some real work on the building began. The opening date was set for “before Christmas.” Jokingly Andi told Jodi, “We should really open by Oct 15”. That statement set the timeline for a lot of long days and nights. And calling in Jodi’s Dad, Lenny, for backup on everything needing to be freshened up, tweaked, worked on, and created. (Like our outhouse and fitting room!)
Next Steps!
The "Bargain Basement"
The story of this old building can't end here! So we have started to work on the “Bargain Basement” in this lovely old building. Open date for this part of the store is “in the future” so stay tuned for updates on this bargain hunters paradise.