A cursory look at some other markets around the country and I found that a lot offer later hours on all or a few days of the week and offer Sunday hours.
The Broadway Market has been open 8am-5pm six days a week (Monday-Saturday) for as long as I can remember. In this day and age, those hours just don’t cut it in retail anymore. The market needs to adapt to the market.
The market doesn’t need to radically change its hours either.
Let’s start by having it open a few nights a week to 7pm. The later closing will provide an extra window of time for people to shop after work or may want to zip down later. It makes the market more convenient and can help expand its base of year-round shoppers.
Next.
Have you been inside of a Wegmans or Tops on Sunday recently? They are jammed packed with people shopping. These people could be shopping at the Broadway Market.
If you take in to consideration the influx of people who come to the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood for Sunday Mass, there is a built in customer base waiting to be tapped into. Personally, I would love to stop in the market for some baked goods, etc. on Sunday after Mass. The Broadway Market wouldn’t have to open all day on Sundays. A short hour schedule of 9am-2pm should suffice.
Examining its hours and changing them accordingly is an easy way for the market to try to build a larger customer base.
I agree…they can’t keep crying that they have no business if they refuse to adjust with the times….not everyone is able to make a run there during those hours, and often times even though you try when you get there at 430 a lot of the places have already closed for the day …Now I understand the need for “clean-up” but if you advertise OPEN TIL 5 then everything should be opened until then…I have worked in retail before, and there was always a half hour after closing scheduled for workers to perform the clean up….
The City needs to get out of the business of managing the Market. As a stopgap they can continue owning it but a board should be put together to run it. Including moving some vendors to other locations within the building. It’s a food center – no reason why there should not be a vendor or two in the windows making food – to visually draw people in.
I think they should close Mondays. Open Tuesday. – Friday. 7-7pm. Saturday & Sunday. 7-2pm
They need to get rid of some of the junky vendors. They need more bakers. They need better produce that has refrigeration.
They need Tom Kerr back he was really cleaning the place up.
Seriously, why have a market whose cultural affiliation is Polish located in a place where Polish people no longer live? The existence is simply for purposes of nostalgia; the market should move out to the suburbs where its customer base is located. Changing hours won’t do much if people fear going there even in broad daylight. Everyone has been in a Wegmans or Tops, but no Wegmans or Tops exist where the Broadway Market does.