Downtown Madison’s Community Roots Market has officially reopened to the public, resuming sales of goods from local farmers and producers.
The small business temporarily closed in July after a fire destroyed a large portion of the building, including Betty Gene’s Diner.
As a result of the fire, Community Roots sustained extensive smoke and heat damage, along with its neighboring cafe, The Sinclair, which reopened two weeks later. The fire destroyed a portion of the market’s operating space, including a hallway and back room.
Cindi Fetch, the wife of MAD Hospitality CEO Preston Snyder, owns Community Roots. Fetch said the market is now confined to a smaller area, but did not suffer total devastation due to the brick masonry walls, which also protected The Sinclair from much of the damage.
“We used to have a hallway that went back to a wine room where we sold books, tablewares, and things that went along with wine and food, and then I had a storage area and an office,” Fetch said. “All of that is gone, so we now have a little less than half of our square footage, where we began.”
With the July fire claiming a large portion of the market’s space, Fetch decided to utilize some of the outdoor area by the store’s entrance.
She credits the City of Madison for permitting her to install a sunshade by the front door.
“So now, I’m going to start setting up something like a farmer’s market in the outside area,” Fetch said. “We’re just making use of the space we have inside now.”
Fetch said the front room of the market is now enclosed by a wall, replacing the area that used to be the hallway to the back room.
“We hired a professional cleaning company to come in and get as much of the smoke damage under control, cleaned out, and just kind of took the walls down,” Fetch said. “We put in a window to give us more light and had a drop ceiling that burned. But within that, we found these beautiful original ceilings, so now [our space] has really high ceilings, but before, it was kind of dark and felt different.”
With the decision to reopen, Fetch felt it would be best not to publicize the market much on its social media pages. She noted that she made that decision due to multiple ongoing adjustments from reopening and returning to normal.
“We’ve changed our hours a little bit to accommodate even more, so now we’re Tuesday through Saturday, 10 to 6, and now open on Sundays, from 10 to 2,” Fetch said. “It’s been good, for not having a lot of publicity. I think every one of our regulars has been through, and it’s just spread from word of mouth.”
Overall, Fetch said her favorite parts of bringing Community Roots back into business are getting healthy, local foods back to the community, and seeing customers return. She added that the company means more than just “bringing healthy foods” to its customers.
“This is a place where people come in and shop, but it’s also a place of community, and so getting back to this has been really important to me,” Fetch said. “The hugs and people literally tearing up when they come in, I mean, it’s been really wonderful, and makes all the hard work meaningful.”