The future remains unclear for vendors at Saskatoon’s Farmers’ Market and a movement is taking place to create an alternative platform for producers to sell their wares.
Julianna Tan has been a vendor at the Riversdale market for five years along with her sister. They sell chocolate and when business increased they started to look for their own space.
They found a spot in the strip mall at the corner of Avenue H and 16th Street, also home to Fable Ice Cream, Darkside Donuts and the Italian Sandwich Shop.
Then Tan and fellow Farmers’ Market producer Shawnda Blacklock came up with an idea to open up a second store next to the chocolate shop which would sell local food products year round and fill online box orders.
“The goal with our space is to keep the philosophy of a farmers market, but we want to overcome some of the barriers that we face being vendors at the farmers’ market," Tan told CTV News.
There will be a focus on online sales, so the inventory in-store will be limited since a lot of the product is fresh, Tan said.
Jordan Lohneis is another farmer market vendor who plans to sell in the new venue which is a former convenience store location.
"I thought it was a great opportunity for customers to connect with producers just giving another way to do so, a lot of people are looking for things that are convenient now, everyone's really busy, " Jordan Lohneis, Owner of The Pig and Pantry told CTV News.
The location is expected to open later in the year, ahead of the current market’s last sale day on December 22.
The Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Cooperative lease for the current Farmers Market building expires Dec. 31. The closure of the building and subsequent repairs to the roof would take place in early 2020, according to the city.
The city aims to have the River Landing site busy six days per week; the cooperative wants to focus on its core mandate of operating authentic farmers’ markets two or three days a week, the city says.
