The Downtown Market opened its doors this Labor Day weekend to a warm reception from Grand Rapids residents.
“We’ve gotten really great reactions so far,” says Emily Davis, the Market Assistant and Event Coordinator Intern. “I think people are just excited that such an amazing attraction has come to GR.”
The market boasts 50 permanent indoor vendors and an outdoor farmers market, all carrying locally-sourced food and goods.
The Downtown Market’s building contains a greenhouse, meeting rooms, a demo kitchen and banquet hall, all of which will host events year round.
There are also two teaching kitchens designed for both adults and children, featuring hydraulic lifts to raise and lower the counters for the intended audience.
“As far as I know,” Emily adds, “It’s the only teaching kitchen in the country on hydraulics.”
The Downtown Market offers unique opportunities for its vendors, many of whom are new start-ups or local retailers who have closed their old locations to be part of the market.
“It’s really cool,” says Anissa Eddie, Founder and Manager of the new Malamiah Juice Bar company, “If we are out of apples, we can run out to the outdoor market or another vendor. There are a lot of cross-beneficial relationships here."
One such relationship is the on-site greenhouse.
“We are growing our own wheatgrass in the greenhouse,” Anissa says. “We love the community of vendors here in the market. We want to bring in the greater Grand Rapids community to experience this.”
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