Archive - June 8, 2023

  The Magic Hour unfolds in the era when State Street was filling up with specialty stores selling soap, shoes, bikes, clothes, gifts, pets, records, dishes, books, tobacco, hats, ice cream and toys, run by a new kind of trailblazing entrepreneur.  It tells a story of personal success, failure, and retrenchment. A  national shopping spree explodes on the scene, ignited by globalization and a furious growth of monopolies that would radically change the nature of retail, the economy and the class system. This book blends U.S. history with the city of Madison and State Street’s history and the author’s personal life. The reader gets a lively course in economics and business ownership through the main character’s experience. About the author: A native of Chippewa Falls, Janice Durand served in the Peace Corps for two years in the sixties,  moving to Madison with her husband and two children in 1969.  In 1974 . . .