As communities evolve, so must city markets
Francis “Lumpy” Baroch remembers when the center aisle at Hollins Market was so crowded it had to be widened. Today, customers trickle past his L&R Produce stall at the east end of the market. Stalls at the west end of the aging structure stand empty.
Market managers, merchants, officials and customers are hoping that will soon change.
Hollins is one of four public city markets slated for a major overhaul as operators work to keep them relevant in Baltimore’s changing and competitive foodscape. Developers have submitted plans for revamping Hollins and Broadway markets. A $40 million rebuild is proposed for Lexington Market. | And the business community is watching Cross Street Market after the collapse of a public-private partnership to overhaul that space.
New partnerships with private players will likely be necessary to update the markets and bring back the bustling crowds of their heyday, longtime market managers say. Faced with slim profit margins and new competition, public market operators are refocusing on the roles these institutions were always intended to play: serving their neighborhoods with healthful, accessible foods, and supporting local entrepreneurs.
Baltimore claims to have the oldest continuously operating public market system in the country; the six existing markets have roots that date to the late 1700s.
They have burned down and been rebuilt, and seen business grow and decline. But for more than 200 years, the markets have maintained a “come-one, come-all” ambience and served as centers of community.
“The areas were built around them specifically — the market is the center of the village or the neighborhood they’re in,” said David K. O’Neil, an international public market consultant based in Philadelphia. “The social component of the market is very, very important.”
For most of their history, Baltimore’s public markets were managed by the city. Officials created the nonprofit Baltimore Public Markets Corp. in 1995 to take over management of Northeast, Cross Street, Broadway, Hollins and the now-closed Belair market. The organization assumed management of the Avenue Market in 2001. Lexington Market Inc., a separate entity, has managed Lexington Market since 1979.
Baltimore’s public markets are still neighborhood cornerstones, but the spaces have underperformed. They have not kept pace with shifts in Baltimore’s demographics, real estate trends or evolving food access strategies in cities, said Robert Thomas, executive director of Lexington Market Inc. and the Baltimore Public Markets Corp.
The buildings are due for structural upgrades, Thomas said, and improvements are also intended to meet the needs of current tenants, fill empty stalls with new merchants and draw new customers. O’Neil warns that change can be difficult. “Everyone’s interconnected and it’s all based on relationships, and people can get very nervous and very upset and they will react to protect their immediate selfinterests,” he said. “[The markets are] cherished, actually, even if they’re not performing up to speed.”
That became evident as the deal to redevelop Cross Street Market fell apart. The rundown building has an occupancy rate of 51 percent, the lowest among Baltimore’s public markets. Caves Valley Partners proposed a $6.5 million overhaul to remodel the building, add new tenants and keep most existing vendors, barring anchor tenant Nick’s Inner Harbor Seafood. Caves Valley backed out after backlash from vendors and neighbors wary of the proposed changes.
As market managers look to make upgrades, O’Neil said, it can be challenging to meet the changing needs of consumers, who sometimes aren’t aware of what they truly want.
“That’s where management comes in,” he said. “Keeping that front end fresh, keeping it open.”