Granton mainstay Roger’s Grocery closing as Nitschke announces his retirement

Located on a corner lot at the crossroads of Maple and West Third streets, Roger's Grocery has been a longstanding landmark and crucial business in the village of Granton. Founded by Roger Nitschke more than 30 years ago, the 3,200-square-foot grocery store has provided the community with a local option to purchase their food, as well as supported the community in other ways during its years of business. That will all be coming to an end now, as Nitschke has announced his retirement after more than 50 years of working in the grocery business.

Roger’s Grocery will close its doors April 29, with the building now sporting signs on its availability to be purchased. Nitschke said after he retires, the building itself will remain as it is for a time in hopes that someone would be interested in continuing the building’s legacy as a grocery store. But as of right now, its future is uncertain.

“We will close on April 29; that will be our last day of business,” he said. “I will leave it for a while. I have it listed as it is. If it doesn’t sell within a reasonable time, I may have to auction off the items in here and try to sell the building for something else. We will see what happens.”

That building holds a special place in Nitschke’s heart. It’s the business he built from the ground up on a formerly empty lot back in 1992 after receiving the blessing of his former employers, Alfred and Dale Drinsinger, the father and son who owned and operated the Spaete’s Store just a couple buildings down the street.

“I had talked to Alfred and Dale and asked if I could buy them out but they didn’t want to do that,” said Nitschke. “They wanted to continue the meat packing part of their business. So I asked them, ‘If I built another store, would you quit the grocery end of the store?’ They said yes.”

By that point, Nitschke had already been working in the grocery business for about two decades, all at Spaete’s Store. He began working there as a part-time employee on Sept. 2, 1971, splitting his time between work and college.

“I had been looking for a job after I graduated out of high school,” recalled Nitschke. “I was going to go to college and was looking for a part-time job. I saw that Spaete’s had an opening. It was the last thing I thought of doing.”

For the next two years, Nitschke alternated between his schooling and his work at Spaete’s. His eventual goal was to become a funeral director, but when that door of opportunity closed on him, another one opened.

“I was going to be a funeral director and that required going to take classes in Milwaukee,” he said. “But those classes all filled up. Then Spaete’s offered me a full-time job and that is where I stayed.”

That job Nitschke held at Spaete’s proved to be a valuable one. Beginning with learning the basics of stocking shelves, cleaning meat saws and working behind the counter, he eventually became the manager of the grocery end of the business. The Drinsingers, he said, taught him everything they knew, which helped him when he decided to venture out on his own.

“Alfred Drinsinger was always teaching me stuff,” he said. “He would say, ‘Roger, I’m going to teach you this and you can use it for your own store someday.’ Which I did. They taught me a lot of things I was able to use in my own store.”

Nitschke officially opened Roger’s Grocery on Friday, Nov. 13, 1992. While Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day for many, bad luck never came calling. Instead, his business prospered, and even expanded in scope as he gained a loyal customer base in the Granton community.

“There were a couple things I took on,” he said. “In my later years, I started doing catering after my roast beef became famous. One thing I always enjoyed were the customers and getting them what they wanted and keeping them happy. It was nice to see the smiles on the customers.”

That isn’t to say it wasn’t a hard job. Nitschke said that as a small business owner, he held a great deal of responsibility, one that could only be fulfilled through hard work and dedication. The job didn’t end at closing time; it was a lifestyle, and one he was happy to have.

“It’s a good life, but a lot of long hours,” he said. “When you own your own business, it’s not an 8-6 job. There is a lot of behind the scenes work after the store is closed. You have to do cleaning, bookkeeping, ordering. When you take a day off, you always worry about the store, how things are going with it and your employees.” Beyond the day-to-day operations, Nitschke said there were other things that changed over the years that had an impact on his store. A lot of the companies he used to buy food from, for instance, would merge together or change their product offerings, making it tricky sometimes to navigate ordering food. When COVID-19 hit, supply chains were disrupted, making some products unavailable.

“When COVID hit, it was hard to get product,” he said. “The supply chain still has some issues; there are a couple items even now that we can’t get. When you buy food, there is a dollar amount you have to spend in order for them to send a truck to you. As a small store, you can’t buy as much food all at once like a bigger store can. Now a lot of the big companies don’t want to support small stores anymore.”

While there were many struggles, Nitschke said there were also many blessings. His four current employees, along with all his former employees over the years, were good workers who loved the store and the customers who came to it. And the community itself, with all its organizations that he helped to support in various ways the last three decades, has always been important to him.

“Through the years I’ve made a lot of good friends with the members of the community,” he said. “I have had very good employees, and I have been very fortunate to have them through all my years of business. And I enjoyed helping all the clubs and organizations at the Fall Festival, dairy breakfast and helping all of them make their events a success. I will miss doing that. I have helped a lot of people and I want to see them continue to be successful in their events.”

The community too, knows the impact Roger’s Grocery has had in the past 31 years. The Granton Village Board, knowing of Nitschke’s upcoming retirement, released a statement acknowledging the work he has done through his small business and thanking him for his dedication to the community.

“Roger’s Grocery and Roger Nitschke have been a mainstay in Granton for many years and we cannot thank him enough. To say Roger’s Grocery will be missed would be the understatement of the year. Roger, we hope you enjoy your well-earned retirement,” said the statement released by the board.

As for Nitschke himself, he said April 29 will be a sad day as he closes this chapter of his life.

“It will be a sad day for sure,” he said. “But I know there is a time when you know it’s time to retire. I’m going to be 70 years old, and I can’t work 70-80 hours a week anymore. It’s time to take life a little easier.”

Roger Nitschke will retire at the end of this month, after having owned and operated Roger’s Grocery in Granton for 30 years.

CHEYENNE THOMAS/STAFF PHOTO