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Originally Posted by imp
Not a market gardener/farmer, but a few things to think about would be how long is each market open for, the traffic at each ( do the weekday markets pay enough to set up?), safety, parking and ease of access at each market for both you and the customers, economics of each area.
Wishing you the best of luck, how ever you choose and great success.
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All very good points. I have never done a weekday market, so it would be a definite change of scenery.
All of the Markets have varying hours. My Saturday Market, the typical 4 hours. Tue. Market 2 Hours (but is literally 10 minutes away) Wed. AM Market is 6 Hours, and the Wed. PM is TBD. I want to say 3 hours??
Traffic wise, Sat. and Wed. PM Mkt. is in the downtown. Older part of a decent size city with a lot of foot traffic. From what I am told, and what I have seen from my visit there last Sat. with my wife, everybody is on foot. Lots of homes nearby.
Tues. Mkt. is in a small park of a small town. Most folks drive and there is good parking. If the customer base is anything like the Sat. Mkt (this is the Mkt. I started selling at) then there is good potential. Even if it is only 2 hours. Its super close by, so drive time is negligible. Hopefully they plan to advertise, so the customers KNOW that there is a Tues. Mkt.
The Wed AM Mkt. is in a Church Parking Lot of a VERY busy rd. Loads and loads of cars drive by. I have driven past it numerous times the last few Summers, and it seems hit or miss. Sometimes it looks swamped with customers, other times not. But then that IS in my experience how the Market goes. Seems like the customers come all at once, then nothing. I know a vendor who sells there, and they confirm this to be pretty much the case. Last Summer they invited me to come setup.
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Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie
I was at two a week for a while, but went back to just one. Everyone's area is different, but the one big market near me is bigger than all of the others combined. I think you just have to go and feel it out. Another difference about my big market is the customers. It is next to a university and we get a lot of people with disposable income who are happy to pay more for a premium product. At the other markets near me, the customers tend to be senior citizens on a very fixed income who are looking to save money compared to the grocery store. That doesn't mean you can't make money at a market like that, but you have to be good at growing basic staples of produce to sell at a low price.
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I understand what your saying. My new Mkt. is in the City and from what I have seen, its more of the "Hipster-Chic-Foodie-Organic-Microgreens" crowd. So that is diametrically opposed to what I am used to. I am trying to diversify a bit this year, and see where it goes. Last year I tried Tomatillos at my old Mkt. I almost couldnt give them away. But Im hoping that my new Mkt. will be all over them.
Funny you would mention about having the Mkt at the College. We have a Mkt here on the Campus. I have spoke to the person who runs it, and looked at the Application. I really have no interest in it. It is micro-managed to the point of absurdity. For example, on the application you have to have an itemized list of EXACTLY the produce you are selling. If you bring something else, you are asked to remove the items.
That actually happened to my vendor friend. They brought in something? I think Summer Squash, and evidently they didnt take the application serious. The lady who runs it, was doing an "inspection" and whipped out their application, pointing out that no where did they indicate that they would bring Summer Squash. Needless to say, they simply packed up and went home
I guess you could just write down every vegetable and fruit that you can think of, to cover the bases.