Madison Coffee House Seeks Alcohol License

We have a buyer! Well, a leaser, at least. Madison's lone and currently dormant coffee house, Common Grounds, appears to now be in the hands of Shaun and Jenny Bader of Burnsville, Minnesota. According to an application in tonight's Madison City Commission agenda packet (see page 21 of the PDF), the shop will be renamed Mochavino—

—Mochavino? Yes, evidently the Baders have decided that the reason the Common Grounds business model didn't rake in big bucks in Madison was that it didn't sell wine and malt beverages.

Sigh.

On the positive side, maybe the reopened shop will recoup the job losses from the closing of Mr. Movies. Also in the plus column: we may be convincing a couple of young professionals to give up the hustle and bustle of the Cities (or busy suburban Burnsville) to come to Madison... or come back! Shaun is a network engineer; Jenny sells jewelry. She used to sell jewelry through Gems by Jenny on South Egan Avenue. Jenny still has connections to the neighborhood: her public Facebook profile indicates she is friends with various Madison folks, including City Commissioner Nick Abraham, who will be voting on her new business venture tonight.