Sunday saw the first day of the new City Market. I certainly hope they have things planned for that website – well more of a page right now. The site made me cringe – all that arty white on grey and grey on white – could do with a bit of contrast. Not much info on the site other than a location map. They are on Twitter and that was a bit more informational as they announced the stall holders in the preceeding weeks.
I was quite excited when I saw it announced but my experience was quite different to that of small acorns. I’m guessing they got there much earlier than I did. I intended to get there round 9am but I didn’t and by the time I got there it was overcrowded and I couldn’t see a thing. The only stalls I could see were the ones which were sold out. The space was a bit small for Wellington and the stalls were a bit crammed together. It is great that so many turned out to support it and I will give it another go but my experience of the first week was nothing to rave about.
It seemed a wee bit pretentious. It didn’t feel like it was anything special. They should look at the popular famers’ market in Hastings, it has the same quality of produce in a more down to earth way. On the plus side a number of the stall holders at the regular weekly produce market right next door commented on how much extra trade it had brought them. Couldn’t they merge the markets? They’re so close they almost are.
Despite my negative first day experiences I hope it continues and I will return, just a few hours earlier next time.
