Beth Skogen
Jennifer Georgeson (left) chats with Len Skar (middle) and Tony Castenada at Jenifer Street Market.
At the center of a slow-moving pack of regulars picking up the Sunday paper or some groceries stand Kim Dilley and Jennifer Georgeson, presiding over a ritual of their own making.
The duo oversees early Sunday mornings at the Jenifer Street Market, the eastside corner grocer tucked between Atwood Avenue and Lake Monona. Last January, they created a new community event that is advertised on the market’s front door: “Every Sunday in the month of July, start your morning off with a free cup of coffee. Meet your neighbors. Good conversation.”
The sign is updated every month. The routine stays the same.
In between darting to the register to check customers out, Georgeson helps Dilley prepare samples of donuts, orange juice and other treats for people stopping by the coffee counter and pastry case in the corner. Not everybody pauses to chat, but those who do become part of the market’s family.
“I watch a lot of them just grow up,” says Georgeson, 38, who herself has grown up at the market, where she has worked for 20 years. “It’s fun.”
Georgeson and Dilley both sport the market’s signature maroon smocks. Nearly every greeting and quip they offer is animated by a laugh.
“I don’t get the paper on a regular delivery basis, so I come up here and buy my Sunday morning paper, get a coffee and a sample of every donut they have,” says John Gamhal, 65, a semi-retired television broadcaster who lives in the Marquette Neighborhood across the Yahara River from the market. “It’s just a nice Sunday morning ritual for me.”
Others just grab a free cup of coffee on their way to work. Dilley and Georgeson laugh about the rush that happens as 9 a.m. approaches, the cutoff for free coffee. But they’re not in the business of watching the clock.
“Just trying to do something fun for the neighborhood,” Dilley says. “People hang out, so why not give them a treat?”
Dilley, 65, and co-owner Steve McKenzie bought the store in 1979. “And I think I’ve been here every day since,” she jokes.
Jenifer Street Market is a staple of the neighborhood. It is the only grocery store in Madison located on a primarily residential street, although the owners have considered moving to a more commercial address to expand. Its quiet location attracts a lot of local customers, but at least one couple shopping this Sunday has traveled weekly from near Sun Prairie for the last decade.
“This neighborhood is very, very — it’s just very different. I love it,” says Dilley.
But, she adds with a laugh, “Could never afford to live in this neighborhood.”
The median home value in Schenk-Atwood, which includes the market, is $301,000, according to the Madison assessor’s office. Georgeson grew up in the neighborhood, where her parents still live. When she started at the market in high school, she walked to work. But the job allowed her to buy her grandmother’s house near the zoo, a slightly more affordable neighborhood.
Dilley doesn’t linger on these changes.
“It’s fun because you get to know all the people,” she says. “That’s part of the store. I said I could be retired years ago. I’m plenty old enough. But I like the people.”
And if a few cups of free coffee keep the people around, she’ll keep it up.
“That’s what a neighborhood store is all about, is being here with the neighbors,” says Dilley. “After all, we wouldn’t be here without them.”
Years Jenifer Street Market has been open: 39
Date it opened: July 2
Sunday window for free coffee: 7 to 9 a.m.
Cups of coffee served before 8 a.m. on a recent Sunday: 15
Last time Dilley took off three days in a row: Eight years ago
