MONROE — It was the end of an era when the former owner of the beloved Roller Den in Monroe sold the building on the city’s east side last year.

The bright disco balls, fixtures, mementos and countless rental roller skates were auctioned off. Now though, the Roller Den is poised to start its new life as the home of Veracruz Mexican Market, which in its present location has served as a handy spot not only for Hispanic shoppers, but those visiting Twining Park across the street.

The changeover of the old roller rink has been going on for about year and the new owners, Santos Tinoco and Maribel Lobato, say that while it was more complicated than they originally thought, they are on track for an opening the new store at the rink site sometime this spring — perhaps as early as April, their original target for the site.

For a while, the couple also owned the Veracruz store in Darlington, but that is now owned by Lobato’s brother, Marcelino Lobato. Now they are putting all their efforts into making the Roller Den store a much bigger and better store.

“We are hoping to open soon it’s going to be a nice store,” said Mirabel Lobato.

She said they are currently working with local inspectors and township officials to bring the air conditioning, ventilation and other aspects of the building up to code. The state of Wisconsin, he said, also asked the owners to hire an architect to plan the conversion of the property into a grocery.

Tinoco and Lobato also are expanding and replacing old fixtures and appliances like freezers, which also is a costly and time-consuming effort.

“The state approval took us kind of a long time but it’s coming together finally,” said Tinoco.

The duo bought the old Roller Den from Jim Becker. He was the third owner of the business in its 61-year run, closing on the purchase in 2009. Becker operated the facility for years, even as roller skating has drifted in and out of style several times. But he said at the time of the sale that the COVID-19 pandemic and its related impacts on gathering indoors was the “nail in the coffin” for the business.

Veracruz Mexican Market started just off Monroe’s Square more than 13 years ago, where the market shared space with a restaurant the couple also owned. After closing the restaurant, the pair moved the market about five years ago to its current location on 14th Avenue next to the Badger State Trail and across the street from the park.

Upgrading to a larger facility means space for wider aisles, a larger walk-in cooler for drinks like soda and beer, more product on the shelves and more storage. They also are hoping for more store traffic that would allow them to hire additional people.

Moving to the far east side is also beneficial for many area residents, which have suffered in a type of “food desert,” lacking a grocery store on the east side of town since Sentry closed more than two decades ago. 

One thing they are doing to improve the Roller Den for the grocery shopping experience is to add lots of windows.

“It was very dark in there,” said Lobato. “But we are putting in more windows to lighten it up for shopping.”