The City Market closed its 2026 outdoor season this weekend with 41 new vendors and record attendance, according to figures released by the market association.
The demographic shift
The market's own survey puts the median customer age at 39, down from 47 in 2019. Vendors and market staff attribute the change to longer Saturday hours, a licensed bar area added in 2024, and a deliberate push to programme the space as somewhere to spend a morning rather than somewhere to buy vegetables quickly.
- Vendors: 214, up from 173 in 2025
- Saturday attendance: averaging 9,400, up 26%
- New vendors: 41, of which 29 were first-time business owners
- Median vendor revenue: up 11% year over year
The vendor economics
A Saturday stall costs $48 to $95 depending on size and location. For a cottage-food baker doing $900 in a day, that is a workable margin. For a farmer selling produce at wholesale-adjacent prices, it is tighter, and several produce vendors have shifted toward value-added products to improve it.
The market is a cheap storefront and an expensive Saturday. You have to decide which one you are using it as.
A vendor in her third season
What comes next
The indoor market runs year-round. The association is seeking permits for a winter evening market on the first Thursday of each month, which would be a first for the site.
Danny Okafor
Danny writes about jobs, small business and the regional economy. He spent six years covering commercial real estate before joining the newsroom.
