You are scurrying around town at the end of a Saturday morning errand marathon and you realize that you forgot to pick up a bottle of wine to give the hosts of dinner party, you need to get Dad something for Father's Day, you need new bath towels for the out-of-town guests that are coming for Summerfest and you are craving something different for lunch.

The World Market store could be your one-stop shopping headquarters.

With locations at Southridge and near Brookfield Square (Bluemound Road and Main Street), World Market is part of a specialty chain that sells furniture, rugs, baskets, ceramics and somewhat exotic food and beverage from more than 50 different countries.

The first World Market opened in the late 1950s, when a San Francisco business man began selling imported handwoven wicker products at Fisherman's Wharf. Today, there are nearly 250 stores (some known as Cost Plus World Market) and the company's stock is traded on the NASDAQ market (symbol: CPWM).

The giant stores, which feature furnishings and consumables on a roughly 60-40 split, are divided into quadrants: rugs and window treatments; baskets and garden; tables and chairs; kitchen and dining; food and wine and folk art décor.

Although the furnishings like glassware and patio furniture and the like generally are nice and competitively priced, there isn't a lot to differentiate them from the offerings at similar stores like Pier 1, Crate and Barrel, Williams-Sonoma and Bed, Bath & Beyond, which is located next door. It's the food that sets World Market apart.

The wine shop offers selections from Argentina, Spain, South Africa, Chile, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, France, Italy and Austria as well as a section of California reds and whites.

For special occasions, they have Veuve Cliquot champagne for $38.99 per bottle, Dom Perignon for $139 and, if you are having some rappers over for dinner, a bottle of Cristal costs $219.

There is healthy selection of beers on hand, though they are stored at room temperature and you have to wonder if they move fast enough to be fresh. Among the offerings are Goose Island Nut Brown Ale, Anchor Steam, Red Stripe, Peroni, Negra Modelo, Pacifico and Dos Equis. On a recent visit to the 18,000-sq. ft. Brookfield store, a display near the register held pints of Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale for $3.49 a pop.

If your backyard party calls for an even more exotic selection of libations, you can find mixes for sangria, mojitos and pomegranate and watermelon martinis.

Food items run the gamut from salsa and chip selections, to chili peppers to McCann's steel cut oatmeal, imported from Ireland at $2.99 a pound. Got a hankering for macademia nut pancakes or waffles? The mix will set you back $4.99 for 1.5 pounds. You also can buy jams from Belgium, potato pancake mix from Germany, organic udon wheat noodles -- a Japanese favorite made in Australia -- and olives stuffed with garlic or jalapenos.

The cookie and candy aisle is stocked with chocolates from Italy and some delicious chocolate covered hazelnut wafers from Austria.The coffee section is large, with several ground and whole-bean varieties and a decent selection of teas.

If you're stumped for a gift idea, you can probably find some ideas in the aisles that hold grill accessories, picture frames, exotic cookies and even a NASCAR pez dispenser.

If you can't make it to the store, World Market also sells merchandise through its Web site, www.worldmarket.com.

17 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by OMCreader on July 24, 2006 at 3:17 p.m. (report)

Girl said: 1.5 million in the metro area, big deal. That's even more pathetic, 1.5 million and it took this long to get an old news chain store.

Posted by OMCreader on July 24, 2006 at 3:14 p.m. (report)

4Hank said: Weak, love that old "Madison is a college town" nugget. Didn't you read the latest labor statistics, the state government and the UW are shrinking, they are laying off people and consolidating while the private sector in Madison is booming. This is the only city [over 200k] in the state that has grown the last ten years. If Madison is just another typical 'college town", how come no one raves about Champaign-Urbana, or Iowa City, Bloomington, IN, West LaFayette, East Lansing, MI, or Springfield,MO?

Posted by OMCreader on June 29, 2006 at 3:41 p.m. (report)

Global said: Eh, nothing special.

Posted by OMCreader on June 20, 2006 at 5:09 p.m. (report)

bay view hopper said: I spend so much time in Chicago that I didn't even realize there wasn't a world market here. I go there all the time.

Posted by OMCreader on June 19, 2006 at 12:18 p.m. (report)

Marvin said: The thing I don't understand is WHY it takes so long for these stores to make it to Milwaukee. I discovered World Market in San Diego about 10 years ago and it hadn't even arrived in Chicago at that time. Milwaukee is not that behind in the curve. We got several retail places waaaay before Madison did.