White Lake Market continues ‘symbiotic,’ community-focused growth

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

August 4, 2025

WHITE LAKE – Though some businesses are inherently founded to scale over time, the more-than-century-old White Lake Market has grown, simply, to fulfill the needs of its community.

“My grandparents  – Ruth and Leo Pomasl – owned [the store] many, many years ago,” General Manager Stacy Klement said. “I don’t really remember it when my grandparents owned it. What I remember is [after] my grandparents sold it to my uncle and my aunt, [I was] here all the time as a younger kid.”

“Born and raised in White Lake” – a small, rural village home to roughly 260 residents – Klement said she built a management career in Antigo over the years.

“I’ve been in management for quite a while,” she said. “I ran the Kwik Trip in Antigo for 10 years, and then I ran the FS [Fast Stop] gas station in Antigo for seven years before I [was hired at the market] last September.”

Since her return to the business, Klement said the White Lake Market building has undergone some renovations after its current owner – Alex Renard – acquired it in 2022.

Starting with renovations critical to the continuing operation of the market – such as upgrading the historic building’s electrical and plumbing infrastructure – Klement said the White Lake Market team has both updated existing amenities and introduced new services with the addition of a cafe and ice cream parlor.

However, Renard said it was not lost on the team to preserve what’s made the White Lake Market familiar throughout its more than century in business.

“One of the local businesses in the community – [Robbins Sports Surfaces] – they were kind enough to sell us second remnants [for the floor],” he said. “So, when it came to patching flooring in the market… we were able to put in the same type of flooring from the same mill, which kind of tied it together.”

Renard said he was grateful for local businesses’ help in keeping the market as authentic as possible as they worked to upgrade its functionality.

“I think it was a really cool homage to the community and to the history and authenticity of the building,” he said.

And this year, just as they wrap up the renovations, Klement and Renard said the market – located at 633 Bissell St. in White Lake – is celebrating 120 years of community-focused growth and service.

Recent upgrades

Wanting to keep the building authentic, Renard and Klement said, doesn’t mean it can’t offer modern amenities and service.

Inside White Lake Market, Renard said customers will enjoy “upgraded shelving” and a quickened, more convenient checkout process.

“There were two registers that were separate – they’re now at one station,” he said.

The market’s new checkout and shelving methods, Klement said, make the business “much more user-friendly.”

“It’s much more open, it’s not so congested and you can actually find things now,” she said. “I have everything labeled and… put categories together to make it much more shopper-friendly.”

These recent upgrades, Renard said, help bring the 120-year-old market into the 21st century.

“I think we kept, without a doubt, as much of the original country-store charm as we could, while still having it be a modern convenience store with gas, ice cream, groceries, an entire deli and cafe,” he said. “It’s all of that integrated and just functioning better.”

The market’s on-site kitchen, Renard said, was also upgraded to help fill the expanding role of its deli and cafe – which, he added, features free Wi-Fi.

“We increased the size – basically doubled the size – of the kitchen, consolidated it and also added multiple new improvements to that [space] as well,” he said.

In addition to its cafe, deli and retail store – “they’ve [always] been there in one shape or another, we’ve just expanded them” – Renard said the market is also a full-service gas station with both ethanol and non-ethanol fuel options for drivers and outdoor recreators alike.

However, he said the business’s food and retail facets are what make the White Lake Market not only a staple in its community, but a necessity as well.

“It’s more than just a convenience store, it’s almost a full-service grocery store,” he said. “We have more grocery items, more freezer items, we’ve doubled the size of the liquor department and what we’re able to handle as far as sodas and waters and just general nonalcoholic beverages… as well as 24 flavors of ice cream, all hand-scooped.”

Renard said the market also employs the work of “several local businesses” to stock the shelves of its grocery section.

“We have a local lady who bakes bread and baked goods that are on the shelves, there’s a local family that makes their own maple syrup, and we sell their maple syrup there [as well],” he said. “There are some local products from the village in the area that we do sell, [and] I think we hope to expand that.”

Coming ‘full circle’

As a rural community hub, Renard said the White Lake Market team literally sees families grow and help support them in their dreams and goals.

“The kids start in grade school and come in for chocolate milk and maybe a donut in the morning,” he said. “Then they’re in high school, [and start] to come in for a sandwich or to grab something their family needs on the way home… Next thing you know, they’re off to college and figuring their lives out, but they still come back in the summer.”

Some of those high school students, Renard said, even become employees – gaining valuable work experience – but added that all local students are eligible for the White Lake Market’s scholarship program.

“We did three scholarships this year,” he said. “It’s a general scholarship. They write a letter, and then the management team at the market picks them without the name of the individual on it.”

Bringing on Klement – a lifetime village local and family member of former owners – Renard said, has helped the market’s community value grow.

“Stacy – [being] community-minded [and] knowing that a lot of people gather there – [she] added a community bulletin board,” he said. “Now, there’s a clear wall that’s dedicated to community events, things that are happening, [and] there’s a special spot in the store where only the Village [of White Lake] posts things so individuals are able to keep up on municipal items.”

Another feature Renard said Klement brought to the store when she came on board nearly a year ago is a local business bulletin.

“Local businesses can post business cards and information about themselves,” he said. “Some of these smaller businesses, especially, may not have a huge social media presence, but you walk right into the door of the [White Lake Market] cafe and you can see all the news of the town.”

With the market serving a limited population, Renard said it’s important for the business and its surrounding community to have “a very symbiotic relationship.”

“We want to make sure we continue to grow and service the community,” he said. “As they grow, we grow right alongside with them.”

Coming “full circle” to both live and work in the place where she and her family grew up, Klement said, is something she’s proud of.

“It just gives me a sense of pride to be here [and] to know that my grandparents, my aunt and uncle were here, and that we’re still a huge part of the community,” she said. “I want to portray that and keep that going.”