Shop by craft
Best of Madison; search or filter for all 6
Madison / United States
This Madison bookstore on Atwood Avenue pairs a deep, staff-curated selection with a busy calendar of book clubs, author launches, and community gatherings in its Reading Room. Shoppers browse titles in person or order books, merch, and subscription boxes through the shop's online store.
Best for Bookstore, new books, book clubs, events
Madison / United States
Micro-batch chocolate out of Madison — local ingredients, cacao sourced with care, and 2018 Academy of Chocolate awards recorded on its awards page. Bonbons and bars at the Odana Court boutique, or shipped.
Best for Chocolatier, fine chocolate, micro-batch, artisan
Madison / United States
On Madison's Capitol Square since 2007, Fromagination is a European-style cheese shop whose cheesemongers cut Wisconsin and international artisan cheeses to order. It sells cheese, gift sets and local companions in the shop and ships nationwide.
Best for Cheese shop, artisan cheese, Wisconsin, cheesemonger
Madison / United States
State Line distills on-site in Madison using Wisconsin Driftless Region grains; its coffee liqueur took double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2023 (recorded by Big Thirst) and 2024. A whiskey line and cocktail lounge round out the operation.
Best for Wisconsin-grain coffee liqueur
State Line Distillery mashes, ferments and distills on site at its Northern Court address in Madison, building its spirits around organic grains sourced from Wisconsin's Driftless Region and locally roasted coffee. Its flagship coffee liqueur — made from ethically sourced coffee, organic grains and cane sugar — has been named Best in the World multiple years running at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, alongside Double Gold and Best of Class wins across 2023 through 2025 and a 2025 Platinum Status rating. Beyond the liqueur, the distillery runs a whiskey collection and a rotating line of signature and bar-series spirits, all sold through its own online shop and poured at the attached Northern Court cocktail lounge, which also hosts private events in dedicated space. No founding year or founder's name is published on the site; the case it makes for itself runs entirely on competition results — repeated top honors at one of the spirits industry's more closely watched judged events — rather than on company history.
Madison / United States
Founded in 1988 by Max Harn Sr. and now run by his daughter Jennifer, Stella's traces its signature hot and spicy cheese bread to a failed empanada dough that baker Coralia Harn recovered by mixing the filling straight into bread dough. Sold from its Regent Street café and still anchored by the Dane County Farmers' Market, the bread now ships nationwide via Goldbelly.
Best for Wisconsin hot and spicy cheese bread
Max Harn Sr. founded Stella's Bakery in Madison in 1988; his daughter Jennifer now runs the business, which has built its reputation on a single accidental invention. Coralia Harn, working the bakery's ovens, was attempting to make an empanada when the dough gave her trouble; rather than start over, she mixed the filling directly into bread dough and sold the result the next day at the Dane County Farmers' Market.
That bread became Stella's hot and spicy cheese bread, now considered a Wisconsin food landmark. The farmers' market remains central to the business; by the bakery's own account, roughly 95 percent of its income still comes from Saturday mornings during market season, even after decades of growth.
The bakery has since moved its storefront to Regent Street, where it now operates as a café serving pastries, sandwiches and coffee alongside its bread. Beyond Madison, the cheese bread ships nationwide through Goldbelly, with a particular following in the Chicago area.
Madison / United States
Independent since 1988 on Madison's Monroe Street, Strictly Discs pairs new and used vinyl, CDs, and cassettes with hi-fi equipment sales and repair, and buys collections outright. A 600-plus fresh-used LP drop lands every Friday at 10 a.m. for its members' record club.
Best for New/used vinyl, hi-fi equipment sales and repair, weekly used-LP drops
Neighbourhood walks
Area names come from each shop’s published address record; ORBIS does not invent neighbourhoods.
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