essential shopping
FONTANA SPORTS
NAVIGATING THE CHALLENGES OF SMALL BUSINESS OWNERSHIP BY LAURI LEE Small businesses are recognized annually the first week of May during National Small Business Week for a reason. Life is hard for small businesses. A week of recognition for the significant contributions of entrepreneurs and small business owners seems hardly enough to acknowledge their value to our economy. More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, which creates nearly two out of every three new jobs in the United States each year. Over the past year, new start-ups and established businesses alike had to think on their feet, prioritizing the urgent while constantly pivoting to adapt to customer needs to stay in business. Elizabeth Ganser, co-owner of the outdoor lifestyle retailer Fontana Sports at 216 N. Henry Street in Madison, has been making plans much of her life 14 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s
to be the eventual owner of the threegeneration, family-owned and -operated local business. Of course, she didn’t account for the unexpected life changes, pandemic, and looting of 2020. “I’m still figuring out how to piece my future together to incorporate the recent unexpected twists and turns. I have this incredible family legacy of store ownership that I want to live up to. It all began when Grandpa (Clarence) and Grandma (Beatrice) Hutchinson started the first Fontana Army Navy in 1949 in Fontana, Wisconsin. It was post World War II, and surplus military supplies were popular. “My dad (John) grew up helping in his parent’s store. He went to University of Wisconsin–Madison (consistency with below) and graduated with a degree in marketing. He decided not to take
