It’s rare to see a family-owned department store that’s not vacant or repurposed. These days there are less than a handful in Wisconsin. But head Spring Green and you’ll find Nina’s Department & Variety Store. It’s nearly 110 years old and is alive and well, finding its niche among today’s shoppers.
The holidays are busy times at Nina’s.
I found two shoppers —Colleen Yapp and her sister Kathy Jelle in their own happy little bubble. They were exploring the houseware department — well, more of an aisle, this is after all a small department & variety store.
"Yeah, it’s a unique store," Kathy says.
"I think we even came when we were kids didn’t we," Colleen adds.
"Yeah, we grew up outside of Spring Green, but he just has a little bit of everything in here and you don’t always find it in the big box store," says Kathy.
That’s exactly what Joel Marcus aims for. Over his 45 year tenure, he’s worked hard to create a 21st century version of what his great grandfather created.
"My great grandfather Harris Marcus was an immigrant from Russia," Joel explains.
Harris “landed” in New York. When he found no work there, relatives who had settled 80 miles northwest of Spring Green, helped him set up a peddling business.
"Walking on foot to all these farmhouses. Even though at that point he spoke very little English, he had an engaging personality and the farm wives like him and he sold a lot of items," Joel says. Eventually Harris opened stores in four small towns, including this one in 1916. Only Nina’s is still in business.
"In the old days they had expensive men’s suits, women’s ready-to-wear clothing and shoes," Joel says. Joel displays newspaper ads from that era inside Nina’s small dressing rooms."As you can see 'suits, men’s hats and caps, coats, modish autumn suits,'" Joel reads.
The next generation of Marcus’ had to pivot, first when the Great Depression hit. "So and my grandfather brought variety store — five & dime items — into the store," Joel says.
Still, the store nearly went under.
"The bank takes control of the building and then my grandmother Nina, her family came up with the money. Supposedly Nina even pawned her diamond ring," Joel says.
No wonder the store, originally called Harris Marcus & Sons, now bears Nina’s name.
In the 1960s His own father embraced a a new trend, "Called discounting ... I remember everything had a little red tag which knocked a certain percentage off and people loved it. People were leaving other small towns and coming to Spring Green because they knew we had good prices," Joel says.
When Walmart came on the scene, Nina’s again had to shift gears. "All of a sudden price was not bringing people in the door, so and we started thinking well what else can we do," Joel recalls.
He decided to return to the store’s department store roots.
"It wasn’t without its difficulties. I remember one woman sort of skeptically saying to me, ‘Kind of expensive for a dime store, aren’t you?’" Joel says. "We did our research, and we were offering prices you could get in the Madison department stores."
Did I mention Spring Green’s population hovers around 1,600?
Joel kept variety in the mix, but he says with a boutique flavor. As customers enter Nina’s visitors encounter seasonal gifts to their right — nothing tacky Joel says — to the left, women’s clothing.
"Which brings us essentially where we are now. Well, one important thing I forgot to mention — in 1999 Judy and I married," Joel says.
Judy, then Swartz, grew up in Madison, earned a masters in textile design. When they met, she was managing a yarn shop in Chicago.
Judy recalls her first encounter with Nina’s women’s clothing department.
"There was very little and I remember saying to somebody, my goal is make this into a department where I would actually wear the clothing, there was nothing I would have put on at that point and she laughed and I thought, you wait and see," Judy says.
As for yarn, Judy added a 'shop within a shop'. It features natural fiber and even local yarns, including from nearby Percussion Rock Alpaca Farm.
"Full disclosure, when I first came, it was across from men’s underwear, and I said, ‘Honey if you want me to stay, we’re going to have to change this a little'," Judy says now, "People go back to the yarn department and think they’re going to find dime store yarn, and they’re ‘oh my, you have some beautiful yarns back there.’ And I say thank you."
Joel says Judy also added color and pockets of whimsy throughout Nina, including in housewares.
"We’ve turned what would be normally a very dull department into a fun area and all we needed was unusual items, bright colors. Not that we don’t have pot and pans but we try to make shopping fun and entertaining," Joel says proudly.
The strategy seems to be working.
Nina’s hums in the summer, thanks in part to other tourist attractions – American Players Theatre and Taliesen of internationally recognized architect Frank Lloyd Wright fame.
In the winter, you’ll find customers like the sisters we met earlier, Colleen Yapp and Kathy Jelle.
Yes, they’re still browsing."You never know what you’re going to find," Kathy says.
"Yeah, like look at these," Collen had spotted a delightful thermos. "Aren’t they cute?"
This holiday season shoppers might have to look far and wide for a Nina-esque shopping experience, but Colleen and Kathy say it’s worth the search.
