One thought on “Buffalo News: The Tale of Two Markets”
I am curious on how the Buffalo News could compare the Broadway Market to the Lexington Co op? The 2 entities are completely different. The Market is run by a board which tends to the daily operations of the Market. The vendors (over 30) are individual businesses with different ideas on how to run their business as they have different ideas on how the Market should be run.
The co op is a member supported business that makes decisions for ONE store. The vendors of the Market are over 30 stores. There just is no comparison. I agree that local grown and fresh produce would be a great addition to the Markets choices but in reality many vendors from my point of veiw bring in the best quality for what they can afford as business people to what the local community is asking for or can afford. Which of the produce venders must take a loss to try to change things to local grown. Who should take that risk?
Any local farmers interested in renting space? I am sure management at the Market would be interested, but on the other hand should the Market risk losing a permanant tenant or hurt a permant tenant to “re-image” the Market.
Who has to suffer for this re image?
As for the comments made that Lexington Co op is more than willing to share—that comment makes me smile because I called as a vendor interested in buying products with Lexington Co op because our small business can not meet the minimum order sizes required to purchase from some of the places that Lexington co op could order from. I was told that it would not be fair to the shareholders to sell to my business and not offer them the same deals. I could co buy with them as long as I paid the Suggested Retail that all customers pay.
Sewwaying to the shareholders comments, the shareholders of the co-op do not depend on Lexington Coop staying in business to maintain their livelyhood. I am not saying that those people that work or volunteer are not important, but the vendors of the Market make their decisions based on feeding and supporting their families. I do not believe the dividends that the share holders may receive or the discounts they receive pay their rent or other bills.
I feel as a customer watching these bashing comments on the Market are just bad press. I have not seen the complete truth come out on any piece of news paper or any article written on the internet. Fragments of truths.
For example…. “two more vendors have left the Market… has anyone considered the fact that just maybe those businesses were ill managed? Maybe gas prices going up has cause product price increase that the customers can not meet in their budgets?
Is the Broadway Market the cause for every vendors issues? The press and politicians are blasting all the problems to management, previous board members are still, after almost a year bad mouthing the Market management. This is not hurting the Board members as hoped for, it is hurting the vendors, and as long as politics stick their noses into the business deals of the market, in the end the customers are going to feel the pain.
I am curious on how the Buffalo News could compare the Broadway Market to the Lexington Co op? The 2 entities are completely different. The Market is run by a board which tends to the daily operations of the Market. The vendors (over 30) are individual businesses with different ideas on how to run their business as they have different ideas on how the Market should be run.
The co op is a member supported business that makes decisions for ONE store. The vendors of the Market are over 30 stores. There just is no comparison. I agree that local grown and fresh produce would be a great addition to the Markets choices but in reality many vendors from my point of veiw bring in the best quality for what they can afford as business people to what the local community is asking for or can afford. Which of the produce venders must take a loss to try to change things to local grown. Who should take that risk?
Any local farmers interested in renting space? I am sure management at the Market would be interested, but on the other hand should the Market risk losing a permanant tenant or hurt a permant tenant to “re-image” the Market.
Who has to suffer for this re image?
As for the comments made that Lexington Co op is more than willing to share—that comment makes me smile because I called as a vendor interested in buying products with Lexington Co op because our small business can not meet the minimum order sizes required to purchase from some of the places that Lexington co op could order from. I was told that it would not be fair to the shareholders to sell to my business and not offer them the same deals. I could co buy with them as long as I paid the Suggested Retail that all customers pay.
Sewwaying to the shareholders comments, the shareholders of the co-op do not depend on Lexington Coop staying in business to maintain their livelyhood. I am not saying that those people that work or volunteer are not important, but the vendors of the Market make their decisions based on feeding and supporting their families. I do not believe the dividends that the share holders may receive or the discounts they receive pay their rent or other bills.
I feel as a customer watching these bashing comments on the Market are just bad press. I have not seen the complete truth come out on any piece of news paper or any article written on the internet. Fragments of truths.
For example…. “two more vendors have left the Market… has anyone considered the fact that just maybe those businesses were ill managed? Maybe gas prices going up has cause product price increase that the customers can not meet in their budgets?
Is the Broadway Market the cause for every vendors issues? The press and politicians are blasting all the problems to management, previous board members are still, after almost a year bad mouthing the Market management. This is not hurting the Board members as hoped for, it is hurting the vendors, and as long as politics stick their noses into the business deals of the market, in the end the customers are going to feel the pain.