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Co-owner Tom Retzlaff, checking out a customer, has run the store with his brother, John, for more than 30 years. Their father opened the store in 1959.
The aisles are nearly stripped of merchandise, but Stephanie Riederer has still managed to forage an armload of art supplies — namely, a bouquet of colorful pipe cleaners — she’s planning to stockpile for some upcoming projects. She likes to craft with her mother, who resides in a nearby assisted living facility, and they’ve been getting materials at the Ben Franklin store in Monona for more than 25 years.
“If there’s anything I need, I tend to come here and find it,” Riederer says. “The big-box stores all carry the same stuff.”
Riederer says she’ll miss the eclectic general store when it closes at the end of the month, and she’s not the only one — there was widespread disappointment in the community when the store announced last month that the new owner of the Lake Edge Shopping Center, Galway Company, opted not to renew the store’s lease. “The neighborhood is pretty upset, and we feel pretty bad,” says co-owner Tom Retzlaff. “But when you gotta get out, you gotta get out.”
Retzlaff is posted up in the back room of the store that he’s run with his brother, John Retzlaff, for more than 30 years. Their father, Robert Retzlaff, opened the store in 1959, and the brothers have spent their entire life tending to the business. “I remember being a kid and coming down to the store on Christmas Day to scrub the floors,” Tom Retzlaff says with a laugh. “It was terrible.”
He likes to joke, but there’s no hiding the emotions that come with closing down a neighborhood institution. “It’s really kind of a pain in the butt,” he says, pausing from his task of dismantling an ancient shelving unit. The store has been busier than ever over the last few weeks, with customers dropping in to say goodbye and take advantage of discounted prices on everything from yarn to greeting cards to eyeglasses to bags of rubber snakes. “Everybody has been coming up to us and telling us how much they’re going to miss us.”
Alex Phelps and her daughter, Lauren, stopped in to browse and reminisce. They now live in Fitchburg, but they used to live in Monona and frequented the shop. “It was always a treat to come here as a kid,” Lauren Phelps says. Her mom also has childhood memories of shopping at Ben Franklin. “They always had all kinds of random things,” Alex Phelps recalls. “I used to love buying pads of paper to play restaurant.”
Why did people love Ben Franklin so much? Retzlaff gives much of the credit to his sister-in-law, Barb Retzlaff, who has done custom framing in the back of the store for more than 30 years and built a reputation for excellent work at a fair price. He jokes about the store’s strange mix of merchandise, but there’s something intangibly wonderful and nostalgic about the shop that hung on against all odds for nearly 60 years.
Retzlaff makes his way to the front of the store, where there’s a table covered with dozens of handwritten notes from customers. He gets a little emotional as he flips through the pages of well-wishes and memories. One tribute particularly touched his heart — a little girl asked her mother if she could buy one of the silk flowers that were on display, and she left it as a gift along with a note of thanks. “I just thought that was the sweetest thing,” Retzlaff says.
It’s hard to think about what comes after Ben Franklin — right now Retzlaff is focusing on clearing out merchandise and getting the space ready for its new tenant, a gym called Burn Boot Camp. “I haven’t really had a chance to think — we’ve been here every day, sometimes 10 to 12 hours per day,” he says. But he does know one thing for certain: “I’m going to paint my garage.”
Ben Franklin opens: 1959
Number of employees over the years: 300
Tentative last day of business: June 26
Tom Retzlaff’s business philosophy: “Just show up.”
