Slash market fees in half to boost traffic: report

A report headed to city council Tuesday calls for slashing vendor fees in half at the city's farmers market downtown.

The recommendation is coming from the Downtown Market Working Group advisory panel, and is seen as a key strategy to boost customer traffic, which has been flat or declined in recent years.

“In order to increase overall traffic to the Market, the working group feels strongly that the market requires more vendors offering a wider diversity of products during the entire season,” the report says.

“The group has made the recommendation to reduce vendor fees following extensive consultation with vendors, consumers and other stakeholders over the past several years, as well as research into other northern markets.”

Cost of renting a stall at the market has been identified as the main reason more vendors haven't taken a spot at the market. The goal is to rent more stalls, and the increased variety of products would draw more visitors. And lost revenue from fees would be made up provided more vendors step forward.

The city budgeted $30,000 in revenue from the fees.

“By setting this year’s vendor fees at a much lower rate in comparison to past years, the working group and staff are confident that an increased number of vendors can be successfully recruited to ensure that the resulting vendor fee revenues can meet or exceed the revenue target of $30,000 in this year’s operating season,” the report says.

For 2016, Eat Local Sudbury has been contracted as a third-party operator to manage and operate the 2016 Market, the report says.

“The service contract approach was piloted for the latter part of the 2015 season, with Eat Local Sudbury overseeing market operations; this was met with positive feedback from both vendors and consumers.”

The market was located for several years in the parking lot at the Sudbury Theatre Centre, before moving into its own building on Elgin Street. It moved again when the city made the land available for Laurentian University's School of Architecture. It's now located in the former CPR train station further up Elgin Street.

This year’s season will open on June 4 and close Oct. 9.