Ideas for another Market in Saint John
I’ve been travelling around southern NB doing Christmas shopping and my fondness for the Moncton Market and the Boyce Market in Fredericton has stayed strong. I wonder how Saint John could mirror these successes.
Don’t get me wrong, the Saint John City Market is a great place (it was awarded a prize for that earlier this Fall), but it doesn’t feature as many options as the markets in Fredericton and Moncton.
And the Queen Square Market adds a dynamic Farmer’s Market atmosphere to the city center in the warmer months. And of course the Kingston Farmers Market is a great place for a leisurely breakfast and shopping experience, but its not particularly convenient for a lot of Saint John residents.
I think there could be some options to achieve a vibrant, large destination market in uptown Saint John, that adds to rather than takes away from the City Market.
One idea would be to shut down the South* Market Street on Saturdays to allow for additional vendors (this could allow for food carts to set up like they do around the Moncton Market and Fredericton Market even on cold wintery days).
Another option (one that would like require an entrepreneur with grand vision due to the $1.75 million price tag) would be to convert the boarded up store beside the City Market to some form of multi-vendor space.
I know we have a fraction of their population and tourist trade, but Boston’s Quincy Market area is a good example of mixing market style vendors with retailers, while also utilizing heritage space and newer construction.
* Correction: Was written as wrong street
3 comments:
It would be awesome to see the corner lot integrated into the market. Sadly, I'm not sure the money is there though. We can all dream though.
When the City Market was renovated back in the 80's, North Market Street was originally slated to become a pedestrian street, particularly with all the large garage doors that open up from the eatery. For an unknown reason, it never happened, despite all the renovations. Uptown Saint John has recently been talking about sparking this idea up again and for good reason -- it makes sense! Good timing on the suggestion!
I think that is South Market Street. It faces the back of the bulidings fronted on King St.The glassed in seating area for the market is also along it.
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