Royal Offers Food and Community Connections
- Chris Budden
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Royal Palmer Doreen Hlavaty, Royal, President Terri Ellis Royal Palmer
Royal Palmer, co-owner of the Driftless Market & Deli spoke to us about the challenges of being a small business owner in rural Wisconsin. In late 2019, Royal left his job with Target Corporation in Minneapolis and moved to Platteville with his husband Tony. Together with Royal’s sister Robin and her husband they purchased the Driftless Market in February of 2020. The timing of the purchase could not have been worse. They enjoyed 4 weeks of living their dream and then the Covid 19 shutdown altered everything. Their vision of creating a place not only for locally grown healthy food, free trade items, and grocery/deli items but for connecting with their community and offering a positive place for the LGBTQ+ community and acceptance to people of all walks of life became much more difficult.
They have struggled financially but see their business more as a service to the community, a place for people can come to connect. They offer meeting space for a variety of groups and space for local artists and crafters can sell their products.
As part of his desire to be of service to his community, Royal became a member of the City of Platteville’s Taskforce for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity – TIDE. He also serves as president of the Southwest Wisconsin Rainbow Alliance.
The recent government shutdown has been another blow to their business. They were due for EBT/Snap benefits recertification but there was no way to complete the recertification because of the shutdown. Therefore, they lost the ability to accept EBT/Snap payments.
Recently Royal has been interviewed by AARP and NPR about the Driftless Market. The outpouring of love and support has been remarkable. In addition, the employees of the Driftless have started a GoFundMe page that can be found at:
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