Offering 'a collection of regional experiences'

Main Street Market seeks to attract locals and tourists

By: Charlie Mathews, Herald Times Reporter

MANITOWOC — John Hemken is convinced downtown Manitowoc can attract shoppers from outside the Lakeshore area.

"I believe that people will come to Manitowoc from Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and from Michigan on the Badger, for a 15-store, high-end retail destination experience," the majority owner of TBL Business Development said Thursday, via e-mail from China.

On Saturday, the third and newest TBL venture will celebrate a grand opening in 2,400 square feet of downtown Eighth Street space, which formerly housed a portion of the Cooks Corner kitchen gadgets store that closed in January 2007.

"With Main Street Market, we are offering a collection of regional experiences," said Holly Pietenpol, retail director.

Located next to Manitowoc Coffee and TWH Collectibles Gallery, the market, 836 S. Eighth St., features everything from crocheted wool caps to skateboards to smoked fish to jewelry to paintings, handbags, beadwork, porcelain dishes, cheeses and fudge.

If a customer has about $10,500, a key is in the ignition of the Harley-Davidson 1200 Nightster, next to $26.95 T-shirts featuring the logo of the Wisconsin motorcycle manufacturer.

"They approached me, and I thought this was too good to be true," said Heather Doucette, who creates garden art leaf castings in cement at Full Circle Products on 26th Street."

"I think my studio is off the beaten path, and I think downtown is a blooming area," Doucette said.

'Enterprise Zone' concept

While sales revenue will be shared between Main Street Market and the various artisans and merchants, TBL is not charging for display or floor space, or sales personnel staffing.

Hemken said the strategy is part of TBL's desire to have its indoor retail village development serve as the centerpiece of a "Private Entrepreneurial Enterprise Zone."

"Creative and passionate entrepreneurs can take advantage of TBL's shared staffing and business services, international sourcing capabilities, and marketing and leadership coaching," Hemken said.

He said it is in the business plan to possibly offer equity funding assistance to budding or established entrepreneurs beginning in 2010.

After just 60 days of construction, Phase 1 opened last November with Manitowoc Coffee and the collectibles store featuring museum-quality replicas of cranes, fire engines and other heavy equipment.

In fact, about 20 of the pieces are scaled-down versions of cranes from The Manitowoc Company. On Thursday, red polo shirts from the county's Fortune 500 company were put on display in Main Street Market.

A few feet away were nut confections from Nutorious, and, in a refrigerator case, Irish Cheddar White cheese from Nala's Fromagerie in Green Bay, and smoked boneless Atlantic salmon classic from Susie-Q's in Two Rivers.

"From her oven to my car," Pietenpol said of the jumbo cinnamon rolls she'll bring into the market and coffee shop each day from Francis Creek neighbor, Karen Linsmeier.

"Wedding cakes are my specialty but I wanted to broaden my horizons because I enjoy baking so much," said Linsmeier, owner of French Creek Bake Shoppe.

Other edibles at Main Street Market include bags of chocolate-covered cranberries, sold by Debbie's D-Rich Foods in Manitowoc, and Pietenpol's favorite spread on crackers — smoked salmon from Pine River Dairy.

Work off the calories

If Pietenpol wants to get some exercise, 360 Degree Board Shop, owned by teenagers Jake and Nate Lindemann, has dozens of skateboard components for sale and the equipment to put it together, right in the store.

On Thursday afternoon, Cameron Hoerth, 12, and Connor Hagen, 10, were checking out the fancy designs on different "decks" (the boards), as well as different composition wheels and "trucks" (the skateboard's axles).

"The goal of Main Street Market is to give tourists and residents a taste of regional flavor, offering a diverse, unique experience to its guests," Pietenpol said. "This is one more stepping stone to revitalizing the downtown Manitowoc community."

And, if one of the store's partners proves to have hot sellers, Hemken already has Phase 2 in mind, with a planned opening of Thanksgiving 2008.

The artisans or vendors would have their own, segregated space in another part of the 35,000-square-foot building.

"We have two stores already finalized, so what better way to qualify some or all of the remaining four stores by test marketing different product lines in the Main Street Market," Hemken said.

Main Street Market is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

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