At an open forum for City Market vendors in early January and during a board meeting late in the month, the Market Building Foundation that runs the building has been zeroing in on issues pertaining to its operation.
The big concern: how to get more people through the doors at the renovated City Market Building, which reopened several years ago after being closed for extensive renovations.
At a meeting in early January, Michelle Dykstra, director of sales and marketing for the both the Market Building and Charter Hall (on the third floor), says food vendors asked about more events that can draw people inside. Better signage to alert passersby as to what is in the building and ways to keep it looking as nice as possible were also mentioned.
Before the renovation “each restaurant had very unique signage,” which helped them stand out. Now the signs are uniform, making it harder to stand out. The Market Building Foundation will consider some flexibility there, according to Dykstra – possibly out towards the street where more people might notice.
“We had about 10 to 12 people that came,” said Dykstra of the early January forum, “I wanted to make sure we could get everybody in a room together, because that’s how we make things happen.” She said the overall tone of that meeting was positive, with a number of creative suggestions made. “I asked what people missed about the old marketing building … and what they want to see in this version.”
Dykstra planned to bring concerns and suggestions to the Foundation board meeting on Jan. 28. She is also planning a follow up open forum – a “public roundtable,” she calls it – for City Market vendors at 7PM on February 18 at Charter Hall and expects any real action items to come out of that get-together.
One caveat: any actions that might require a good deal of funding probably won’t get far since Dykstra says the budget has been set for the year – although as a non-profit, the Market Building Foundation could go out to the public seeking support.
What Dykstra said she heard from vendors is that they thought the City Market building should be “a central location of commerce and activity. My feeling is that they want there to be more activity.” Dykstra said they have enough space to offer large events – perhaps wine tastings and art exhibits – like a “Second Sunday” perhaps, where local artists can come show off and sell their works, with food vendors also benefiting from the increased traffic. Not all of the City Market restaurants are open on Sundays; nor are the hours uniform. Vendors tell Dykstra they now “lose money on Sundays” with the much slower traffic.
Dykstra says Sundays “are such an underutilized day downtown,” that coming up with a unique, signature weekend event could help put it on the map as a destination for visitors.
Family activities and other creative activities all designed to get people in the door – perhaps someone even painting on site – were also mentioned.
Dykstra would like City Market building events in the future to complement other things going on downtown – not cannibalizing them. “What can we do to work with downtown and not try to compete?” she wonders. Joining the Art By Night roster on the first Friday of the month is another possibility.
Dykstra is a Roanoke native who moved back home after stints in New York and Chicago; her husband runs a bicycle shop here. “After being here a year or two there are so many positive things going on,” she says.
By Gene Marrano
