By Angie Landsverk

Combining Art, Food, Music, and Community

Karin Dittmar Miller was looking at a Chicago news­paper’s Sunday edition to list her natural foods store for sale when she saw an ad about a store for sale in the state next door.

“I’m sure I still have the original cutout of the ad somewhere,” she said. “It said exactly, ‘Retail store for sale, Spring Green, Wisconsin’ and listed the phone number — nothing more.”

Karin shook her then husband’s arm and said, “It’s the general store, and I want to buy it!” He groaned.

She designed the café’s hummus from her memory there and based its tuna salad recipe on her mother’s recipe. Karin found the Hoppel Poppel scramble in an old Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook.

“I’ve always tried to combine healthy recipes with a lot of flavors but you might be shocked at how much bacon we serve),” Karin said. “We have had many chefs and kitchen workers help and influence the menu along the way, but most of the recipes are based on my food memories, with added random bursts of creativity.”

On the retail side, her prior experience as the owner of Green Earth Natural Foods in Evanston, Illinois, meant she came equipped with inventory sheets that she still uses to this day. Karin learned about regional gift trade shows and started attending them.

Some mistakes were made. But Karin said it turned out that she had an eye for buying and loved it.

“People would come up from Chicago and ask me, ‘Where do you find all this unique merchandise?’ and I would proudly say, ‘Same trade shows everyone else goes to!’” Karin said. “I pay atten­tion to what people respond to, and I listen to what they ask for.”

She quickly developed a special-order system and did whatever she had to — to get the product they wanted. “I also keep an out-of-stock list to track fast-selling items and remind myself to reorder sooner than later,” Karin said. “One of my biggest tools is to pay attention to what didn’t sell, so I don’t make the same mistake twice (if possible).”

Karin also reads every trade magazine she can and signs up for all the newsletters. “Many times, customers have given me great product ideas. I have been known to ask women if I can look at the label on their shirt to see who the manufacturer is!” she said.

Regarding her business’s name, Karin said they called it Spring Green General Store & Café for a while. She got tired of the long name and said people eventually seemed to know they had a café.

She said the general store part of the name is still a battle, as it is not an old-fashioned general store that sells things like fish bait. As a result, Karin likes to call it a modern general store, which she says really means “gift shop or everything Karin wants to sell.”

The café side of the business is the most demanding of her. But whenever she tries to think of doing something different, Karin returns to the thought of how well both sides of the business work together.

A Long History

Spring Green General Store has been in existence in one form or another since 1976 and at its current site since 1982. The building is a former cheese warehouse — built by local farmers in 1910 next to the railroad tracks to ship the cheese.

Spring Green is a village of 1,573 people surrounded by a town of 1,525. “It is a special place, where Frank Lloyd Wright built Taliesin. We are also fortunate enough to have a very successful outdoor Shakespeare theater (American Players Theatre) just outside of town, and we are located on the beautiful Wisconsin River and part of the Driftless Area,” Karin said.

Spring Green is a tourist destination. She likes to call them visitors instead of tourists.

“From day one, it was important to us to build not only our own community, but the surrounding area,” Karin said. “The downside is that we basically have to make all our revenue in six months to support the other six months.”

The businesses are working to build the shoulder season, but she said it is not easy. “The business community in Spring Green is strong, and we are lucky. We rarely have empty storefronts,” Karin said. “From the very beginning, I saw the value in being open regular hours, so people knew they could count on us being open. I mean, if you are going to travel an hour to come to the general store, then I better be here for you!”

Her building has a full basement, and half of it has attic space that is unused. Karin said the back half of the main floor was once a three-bedroom apartment they lived in until they took it out in 2000. The entire building is currently used as commercial space. The basement has space for overflow seating and meetings but is primarily used for storage.

“We have the original maple flooring, big, huge wooden beams, and as much of the original character we could keep. We have a full-length front porch (with a swing) and line the whole thing with flower boxes, so when you walk up in the summer, you see the colorful flowers in front of a very blue building,” she said. “For years, we told people, ‘It’s the big blue building by the railroad tracks,’ and now I sell my private-label coffee — named appropri­ately ‘Big Blue Building Blend.’”

Karin’s property includes a large backyard — a quarter acre in size — and an alley. “The land is important,” she said, “because it allows me to host my two outdoor music festivals — BobFest in the beginning of the summer and BeatleFest at the end.”

The covered deck on the back of the building is a recent addi­tion and serves as the stage for her music festivals. Karin said one result of the COVID-19 pandemic was she noticed people valued sitting outside more. She was able to get a loan from the Small Business Administration to add the deck, as well as a ramp to give everyone access.

“That has been very rewarding and makes me proud when I talk with people that are now able to come for the first time,” Karin said of that project. “We also notice many more customers bringing their dogs with them — and now they can sit outside with them!”

Running Two Businesses

She has never had any other income other than her business. “One time a friend of mine said, ‘Gee, do you realize you are running two businesses at once?’”

Karin had not thought about it until her friend said those words. “I know what it feels like not to be able to pay your bills — very little in life is worse than that,” she said.

Her local, small-town banks have been good partners, and she says not to be afraid to ask. Karin has also asked some of her larger suppliers for support — like making payments.

“Sometimes family and friends were the only reason I survived,” Karin said. “I think once I took the emotion out of my pricing structure, I was able to become more profitable. In the early years, I felt like it was my job to provide the world with reasonable prices — not a sustaining concept!”

In addition, she took advantage of programs offered during the pandemic. “Also, I live a very good life with very little money,” she said. “I’ve always paid my staff, but not always myself.”

Inside the Store

Karin likes lots of everything and describes her product mix as constantly evolving. “There are some categories that don’t sell, and I will admit defeat, pick myself up off the floor, and move on,” she said.

She sells women’s clothing from smaller manufacturers like Shana and Effie’s Heart, plus lots of Habitat, jewelry (mostly earrings and a few necklaces) from Baked Beads and Adajio, and lots of Smartwool and Tey-Art alpaca socks, hats, and scarves.

Karin also sells lots of cards — like from Artists to Watch, Tree Free, and Freshcut — puzzles from eeBoo and PuzzleTwist, choco­late, local food, bulk spices, toys, and games.

Spring Green General Store has a small body care section with bar soaps from European Soaps and lotions from Deep Steep. “Gifts of all sorts is our broadest retail category (like anything that remotely looks like a stocking stuffer) from the likes of Chronicle and Kikkerland, dish towels from Danica, eco-friendly items from Full Circle, magnets from Ephemera, custom mugs, decorative items, holiday items (we are trying to build our Halloween busi­ness), and we have a ‘PG’ section (sometimes we get in trouble for it, but one of the Fun Club puzzles is the bestselling item in our online shop),” Karin said.

She likes to buy local when she can. “Some examples of those suppliers would be jewelers, graphic artists (cards and mugs), a lavender farm (body care and eye pillows), honey, maple syrup, popcorn, jam, coffee, and cheese,” Karin said.

Her customers come from what she refers to as their triangle of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis, with Madison being the largest draw, and then also throwing in some customers from Iowa. “But I never forget that the people closer to us geographically are the ones that keep us going,” she said.

The store has an online shop as well. “So, for years my brother said, ‘You have to sell online,’ and I was just overwhelmed at the thought of it (I already had enough jobs),” Karin said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she primarily ran the business by herself — with maybe a helper or two. With the lights off and the heat turned down all the way, she took orders over the phone and left the bags on the back porch.

“By the way, my amazing customers supported me during this time by purchasing gift certificates over the phone, and I knew exactly why — they wanted to find a way to support me — and believe me, I noticed,” Karin said. “What did I do? I decided to start my online shop!”

Shopify’s platform made it possible for her to do so. “Did it go gangbusters? Well, maybe during the beginning. But it has been a struggle to get people to place orders. Never fool yourself into thinking if you just put it out there, people will buy,” Karin said. “This is a project that I am still working on. I know I should have better photos, more detailed descriptions, and tell the stories behind the item. Maybe skip the shipping charges. I don’t know, but I feel there is much room for growth.”

Marketing Efforts

Karin describes her advertising budget as tiny and said most of it goes to the local guidebook put out by the Chamber of Commerce, the playbill at their outdoor theater, and a few dollars to Facebook ads. She recommends Googling your own business to see what it looks like — just like you should regularly walk in your front door to see what it feels like to be a customer in your own store.

“I do all my own social media, and I have over 7,000 followers on Facebook and over 2,000 on Instagram — all because I love to take photos and have always stayed true to my own voice,” she said. “With the encouragement of my daughter, we made some videos together, and a woman walked through the door for the first time, saw me, and said, ‘I know who you are. I saw your video on YouTube, and that’s why I am here!’ Win. Recently, when I post items on Facebook, I always try to include a story or info about the manufacturer; we have sold those items. Another win after many years of consistent posting. We also send out an email newsletter called ‘GSnews’ that people can sign up for on my website.”