WAUPUN — A new business is arriving in downtown Waupun this spring, a “high-end consignment” boutique called Madeline Clothing Company.
The Madeline Clothing Company was started in March 2023 by Madeline Gantner, a 21 year old First Responder/EMR at the Brownsville Fire Company. She started the company after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2022 at the age of 19, which motivated her to fulfill her dreams of owning a high-end women’s consignment shop.
The Brownsville-based apparel company unveiled the move to downtown Waupun last week in a Facebook live video, announcing they would be moving into the building at 425 E Main St.
Before starting the company, Madeline attended high school at Lomira, and attended college to become a physical therapy assistant. It was during this time that she received the news that changed her life.
“During my time in college in 2022 I was unexpectedly diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the age of 19,” Madeline said. “And with going through treatment, surgery, etc., I just felt really led to follow my dreams and owning a store—specifically a high end women’s consignment shop—was always a dream of mine. I felt led to actually go out and conquer the world and do that, and with the help of family and friends my dream became reality.”
According to her most recent check ups, she has been cancer free for over a year.
“There’s a lot that goes into opening a small business in general,” she said. “When I was in college and I was very sick with cancer and going through treatment, I did not think there was a way to even think about that, but it kinda all fell into place. I was just having a really rough day at college, and on my way home a thought came to my mind about opening a store and really following my dreams. And later that day I got a call from the landlord in Brownsville saying he had a place there for me and that I was more than welcome to come take a look at it, and I fell in love with the place.”
The Madeline Clothing Company is currently located at 605 Main St in Brownsville, one of the few commercial properties in the village.
One of the reasons she chose Brownsville to start her business was because she was already involved with the community as part of being a First Responder with the Brownsville Fire Company.
“Being local as a Lomira grad and as part of the volunteer fire department I already had a lot of support in that community around me in starting my business,” she said. “And now it’s been almost a year since I’ve opened and the growth has been tremendous. I don’t know how it’s been so blessed but it has, and thank God for that.”
“I have people coming to my shop from all over, even people from out of state stop at my store, and with all the growth I thought it was best to expand,” she said.
The building the Madeline Clothing Company is moving into can be found at 425 E Main St, and is the shopfront immediately to the east of Stone + Suede.
The new location will offer the company over double the space of their current location in Brownsville, which allows for more items to be on display and the expansion of available products.
“Not only is the new space double the size of my current space, I will be able to take more appointments, as well as have more merchandize for sale on the floor—but being downtown will bring even more traffic through and I’m very excited to be downtown to work with other local shops. I had lots of people just coming to Brownsville specifically for me, whereas now they can get out and support other local small businesses.”
“They also do a lot of downtown community events, which is something I’m very excited to be a part of,” she added.
The Madeline Clothing Company sells a wide variety of upscale women’s consignment items, including clothing, handbags, shoes, accessories, and jewelry. They also sell some craft items including custom creative bracelets, wooded wax candles, and car fresheners from local creators in Brownsville. And now with the new space in downtown Waupun, they are looking at offering home decor as well.
“I’ve always loved consignment and thrifting, and my big thing has always been ‘circular fashion,’” she said. “It’s based on the idea of recycling, where something’s new and somebody wore it or maybe not, and it comes to me where we resell it, and somebody gets to love it that somebody else passed on with.”
The grand opening for the new location in downtown Waupun will be held the weekend of March 21st-23rd, which are a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
