Market hopes to shift from arts to agriculture
By the year’s end, the Vancouver Farmers Market could look completely different.
Instead of an inside co-op space heavily dominated by arts, crafts and gifts, market directors are hoping for a shift to primarily agricultural wares: local fruits and vegetables, fish, meat and plants, said Market Master Robert Ray.
The spring-to-fall outdoor market has been going strong for more than 15 years and has a life of its own. Ray said running it is a no-brainer, but the organization wasn’t prepared for the seven-day-a-week indoor market co-op when it opened in September of 2005 and have been ironing out the kinks since.
The 30 vendors in the 10,000-square-foot shared space are doing well, averaging $12,000 in total sales monthly, Ray said. But the market’s research is showing that Vancouverites want more veggies.
According to Vancouver Farmers Market surveys and area demographics obtained from Comcast Spotlight, its customer base is fairly well off and 80 percent come to the market for flowers and produce. Many customers also enjoy the creative flora displays, such as decorative pots of "lucky" bamboo, Ray said.
Currently, 67 percent of the indoor and outdoor market combined is agricultural; it should be at least 80 percent, he said. And inside, the percentage is far less.
Market organizers are looking at recruiting local vineyards, florists and seafood and meat sellers, but in the past, farmers have had a hard time making it indoors. Unlike a framed print of a scenic Southwest Washington countryside, produce goes bad and rising fuel prices make it expensive to transport fresh fruit and vegetables to the market, at 505 W. Eighth St.
"We’re realizing we’re going to have to offer some concession to get those vendors," Ray said.
The most obvious, he said, is rent reduction.
The market rents space to co-op vendors starting at $50 per linear foot per month, and takes a 15 percent commission to cover administrative costs and taxes. Outdoor market vendors typically pay $25 to $30 per day for a 100-square-foot plot.
"By the year’s end, you’ll see a heavier agricultural representation even if I have to give it away for free," he said. "It is what the customer wants, and when we’ve lost sight of that, we’re done."
Ray said the market doesn’t need any more large-scale farmers, and is trying to attract smaller farmers. Ray is also looking at ways to partner with the fledgling Vancouver Food Cooperative.
Customers want unique items they can’t find anywhere else downtown, and as it stands, that is not the case. Ray said the indoor market’s wall space is well utilized by arts and crafts, and may stay that way, but the floor space should be agricultural.
"This is a great venue for arts, but the focus needs to be on agriculture," he said. "I don’t know what the goals were in the beginning, but my personal expectations are higher."
Ray said the organization is not in financial trouble, but that the finances weren’t worked out from the beginning and spending needs to be closely scrutinized and analyzed. He was hired two years ago as the deputy market master, and within weeks of his arrival, the market’s executive director quit and the market master was fired. He uses volunteer bookkeepers.
Ray said the number one improvement goal is opening the lines of communication between management and vendors and reaching out to the customer, possibly using signage and public service announcements.
"We’re still here," he said. "We don’t close during the winter when vendors aren’t out on the street."
