Artie and Deb Johnson, owners of Johnson’s One Stop in Seneca, Wisconsin, have been named by the U.S. Small Business Administration as the Wisconsin Business of the Year winners.
The Johnsons will be headed to Washington DC on May 3 to be honored at the SBA Awards Ceremony. At the ceremony, Johnson’s One Stop will be competing against 49 other states and 3 U.S. Territories for the National Title of 2026 U.S. SBA Business of the Year Award.
How does a small business from a small town in a rural county win statewide honors? First, by navigating all the challenges of running a small business and secondly by being successful in transitioning the business from one generation to the next. Generational transfer has only a 40% chance of successfully moving into the hands of the second generation and only a 12% chance of success reaching a third generation, according to Exit Planning Institute. Johnson’s One Stop is amid a future transfer to a fourth generation – a feat which only three percent of businesses survive, according to Entrepreneur magazine.
This honor is not only a tribute to the hard-working Johnson family, but to every one of the thousands of employees that have ever worked there over the last 88 years and to all the customers who choose to shop local.
It would be nice to know how many farm implements have been repaired on the fly with a part or a fixed tire from Johnson’s, how many home repair projects and construction jobs have been kept on track because of a quick tool picked up at Johnson’s, or a family dinner saved because of being able to run over to Johnson’s to add a couple more burgers to the grill to accommodate unexpected guests?
It all started with a general store in 1937, with $500 borrowed from Robert Johnson’s parents and $500 borrowed from his wife Avis’s parents, equivalent to $23,000 in current purchasing power. Even from the start, the Johnsons worked hand-in glove with the community. They often accepting eggs in payment for supplies so that the local farmers could get the materials they needed without having to make a long trip to Prairie du Chien to get supplies.
Jerry and Trudy Johnson were the second generation owners to run the store. In the 1960s, the store moved to its current site and in 1970 Johnson’s expanded to include a full-service grocery store. Artie Johnson led the expansion into building supply materials sales in the late 1980s, and Artie and Debbie bought the store from Artie’s parents in 2010.
In 2015, Artie and Debbie founded and launched a locally sold clothing brand, Driftless Apparel. The store and its outbuildings have undergone at least 10 additions over the years and completed an external remodel and brand refresh in 2024. Along with Artie’s brother, Brad, you’ll see fourth generation Johnsons – Brandon, Jordan and Thomas all taking leadership roles at the store.
Being centrally located, Johnson’s One Stop serves about a 20-mile radius, which covers 95% of the county. Their revenues come in across the board: one third from grocery, one third from hardware and farm hardware and one third from lumber and building supplies. Retail is a tough business, and rural retail is even harder. Layer in that one third of your business is grocery – a highly perishable product line – and the chance of success is further diminished. However, Johnson’s makes it work. The store has 37 employees and averages 600 transactions a day – that is a sale every 63 seconds. Somehow the store and the transaction never feels rushed and the employees are always able to answer an extra question or help you find a local tradesperson.
A local celebration of this statewide honor is being planned for this May at which state-level Small Business Administration and local-level Small Business Development Center team members will be on hand, as well as all local community members and local, state and federal officials will be invited for smash burgers and music.
If your local business needs advice on starting, growing or transitioning to the next generation, you can contact the SBA’s local network of Small Business Development Consultants lead by Nora Roughen-Schmidt in Southwest Wisconsin and Anne Hlavacka in Western Wisconsin at WisconsinSBDC.org.
