08 Aug Market multitude – feedback

The new Halifax Seaport Farmer’s Market doesn’t impress Contrarian reader Michael Graham:

I really hope there is a tremendous amount of work to be done, because it is an insanely cramped space with two sets of narrow doors. There weren’t thousands of people at once — no mob, just a very small space with no room to move. Three people effectively block all movement along an aisle — no wider than at a grocery store. Relatively speaking, the brewery market is incredibly easy to move through.

What makes this space attractive? Glass, concrete, and gridlock? It’s just a small warehouse with natural light… I the like variety of the spaces in the brewery labyrinth; I don’t like the “science fair in the high school gym” feel [of the new location]…. I think that the building is a boring glass box, it’s neither beautiful nor ugly. It’s just there and evokes nothing – except perhaps the feeling of office culture.

All the work in the world won’t make the space any bigger. The least they should do is triple the number of doors on the west side. Do they expect to pack in more vendors?

De gustibus non est disputandum. I like the building; Michael doesn’t. I used the enjoy the rabbit-warren quality of the Brewery building, but as crowds grew in recent years, it became a dank, fetid, claustrophobic space. It was no longer a pleasant place to shop or socialize.

As for Saturday’s crowd, it was indeed huge — likely an all-time record for the market. Many vendors set sales records. The numbers overwhelmed the building in its current configuration. Will this get better as the market opens for longer hours, on more days of the week? I hope so, and I’d be delighted to hear from the Market management or the designer about any adjustments they plan.

Michael has a point about the exits, although this may be part of the building’s rigorous energy conservation. (For the record, Mr. Graham has no affiliation with the dissident vendors who are staying behind at the Brewery building.)