Milwaukee Public Market

Photo from Flickr

I had an hour to kill in Milwaukee last week, and I spent my hour strolling around the Historic Third Ward. The Milwaukee Public Market is a can’t-miss landmark in the area. The market’s independent vendors sell cheese, fish, veggies, bread, soup, sushi, and more. There was so much variety it got me thinking about supermarkets.

How great would it be if the meat department, the bakery, the deli, and the produce department were all operated by independent businesses within a supermarket? I know that some supermarkets used to operate this way, and I’d love to see this idea return. There are several major benefits to turning supermarkets into Milwaukee Public Markets:

• Instead of having Deli Managers and Produce Managers, you’d have small business owners.
• You’d have a variety of offerings from store to store, since the supermarket chain wouldn’t be dictating the selection.
• Quality would be higher. Small business owners would be putting their reputations on the line as entities independent from the store as a whole.

Now, of course it’s not that easy. Supermarkets thrive because of low prices and convenient car access, not necessarily the quality of their food. I would just love to see more Milwaukee Public Markets around.

# • Posted on Jun 17, 2008 • Tags: