The Saint John City Market was built for one thing.
The 10-year City Market Strategic Plan aims to bring new life into a beloved institution, but something is missing.
A History of Defying Trends
In the fall of 1993, Saint John was looking a bit grim. Notoriously conservative Elsie Wayne was mayor, storefronts along King Street were boarded up, and businesses and residents were fleeing the uptown. I had just moved back to Saint John after a year in Montreal and moved into my first apartment uptown.
The City Market was an anomaly with the backdrop of this apparent decline. At the time, the Market was full of vendors and customers picking up their daily produce, or stopping for lunch, and the City Market was often packed on Saturdays.
30 years later, my youngest daughter is moving into her first apartment amid a very different landscape, with a mix of renewed urban development, increased cost of living, and declining food security.
Residents and businesses want to be here. There is a new appreciation for our architecture, our unique natural landscapes, and a rich arts+culture scene. These trends are also reflected in numbers when looking at population growth, and property investment.
In recent years, The City Market has taken on a more significant role in our community. The continued success of the night market, special events, and cultural programming has attracted new vendors and new customers for the City Market. This renewed interest has allowed us to think about the many ways this space adds value to our community.
So it is bewildering to me to see how much the City Market continues to struggle with occupancy and attendance, while the rest of uptown is doing so well. Over the past decade, the City Market has seen the departures of several institutional vendors such as Raymond's Cheese, Baleman’s Produce, Dean’s Meats, Linja’s Foods & Gifts, and more recently, Sister’s Italian Foods. Without a critical mass of food vendors to attract customers, patronage has been in steady decline.
This comes in sharp contrast to the growth of food culture in uptown Saint John and surrounding areas. With a growing number of international grocers and restaurants, we now have an unprecedented array of food choices uptown. The Queen Square farmer’s market has been attracting vendors and customers from all over the region for over a decade. Other farmer's markets in Kingston and Fredericton have also seen growth over the past decade. We don’t have to look far to see that the demand for local, healthy food is growing.
A long-Overdue Overhaul
When I learned that the city was working on a new strategic plan for the City Market, I had high hopes. I did see a lot of great ideas, which included more focus on the needs of locals, consistent hours, improved overall governance of the market, and updates to the infrastructure are all long overdue.
Download the file here:
SJCM Final Strategic Plan June 2023.pdf
At first read, I was impressed with some of the key references to food as a primary need among customers, but perplexed by how food is barely mentioned in the summary of the Mission, Vision, and Core Values on Page 12, or in the Detailed Action Plan on pages 54–61.
What does our community need?
There seems to be a disconnect between the overall substance of the document, which identifies food as a central component of the Market, and the recommended actions to be taken. In the Detailed Action Plan, starting at Page 58, there are a total of 64 recommended actions tied to the 7 strategic directions. Only 3 of these actions explicitly mention food.
It creates a lot of uncertainty about what the priorities of this plan are. This disjointed presentation is concerning to me, as an uptown resident without a car who relies heavily on the City Market as my primary source of food.
I wanted to offer a resident's perspective on what I felt was missing. But first, I wanted to have a look at what felt right. The Strategic Plan shows a lot of insight into our community needs, and some great ideas on how to meet these needs. I’ve included 10 key excerpts from the strategic plan below that describe some of the ways food plays a key role in the City Market.
- On page 17, a summary of survey data indicates “Produce, meat, fish, bakery and groceries” and “Prepared Ready to eat food” as primary drivers for locals visiting the market.
2. On page 19, a summary of community feedback mentions:
“Local goods (especially food) should remain the focus of the market”
3. On page 21, a summary of feedback on the draft strategic plan included this key point:
“Add locally grown food as a focus (including small local agricultural operations). Food should always be central to the market experience”
4. On page 23, a summary of case studies of other markets notes:
“Markets commonly take on a food security role with the intent of improving food access for vulnerable populations.”
5. On page 24, the list of core values for the City Market includes:
“Vendor and Market Excelence — Vendors and management share a high standard of excellence and work together so the Market lives up to its reputation as the premier destination in Saint John for locally grown and/or sourced foods, products, and services.”
6. On page 30, in the description of Strategic Direction 2: Work together to achieve destination excellence, the first paragraph mentions:
“A focus on food should guide programming efforts and event plans, as the Market continues to provide an experience that is a unique combination of Farmer’s Market, Public Market, Food Hall and Entertainment Festival.”
7. On page 32, in the description of Strategic Direction 3: Embrace inclusion and have a positive community impact, it suggests:
The Market can consider community partnerships and taking a leadership role or enabler role focusing on food security for those who have challenges affording and accessing healthy food.
8. In the Specific Actions to Support Inclusion and Community Impact it includes the following recommendations:
“4. Construct a professional incubator kitchen for short-term rental by emerging businesses or pop-ups and/or introduce a culinary hub for community-based culinary, nutrition and food security programming.
5. Embrace a role for promoting food security, through Second Harvest, or programs with vendors and community groups or partnerships with farmer’s markets.”
9. On page 35, a summary of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility: Strengths, Weaknesses and Opportunities for the City Market, it lists the following item as a weakness:
“Lack of affordable food options for low-income population”
10. It also mentions the following items among its opportunities:
“Providing food security efforts in partnership with vendors and agencies”
What’s Missing?
There are many great ideas and community feedback around our community food needs represented throughout the document, and yet when we look at this chart summarizing the Vision, Mission, Core Values, and Strategic Directions on page 14, food is presented in the Mission as an incidental component… “the City Market welcomes people to gather around local food and crafts.”.
The Vision does not mention food at all, and is instead described as “Creating shared experiences and pride of place for Saint Johners past, present, and future.”
Considering what is at stake, the way this document defines the strategic goals for the next 10 years for the City Market struck me as unfocused and contradictory. Food is referenced throughout the document as a staple of the City Market, but is notably absent in the Vision (Page 14) or the Detailed Action Plan (Page 54).
There appears to be more focus on transitioning the market into a “destination” for “experiences”, and moving us away from the essentials of what the market was built for and used for, for over a century.
Food.
Throughout the document, food appears more as an honourable mention, rather than the primary institutional mission of the City Market.
What is the priority?
Earlier in the document, they quote a US-based nonprofit Project for Public Spaces (PPS) that discusses some of the challenges faced by public markets…
“irregularity of ongoing investment, lack of management capacity, poor coordination with other organizations, and increased competition from supermarkets.”
and then goes on to state…
“key insights and research into Public Markets as destinations. Their research finds that experiences are the top reason why people love markets”
It is understandable how some might see transitioning to an experience-based destination as a natural evolution of the City market. Over the years, many of our staple food vendors have left, and other vendors have taken their place. Pop-up food vendors who once appeared on Saturdays have also dwindled, or migrated to other farmers markets in the region, while much of the empty space remains unused.
But rather than address these challenges head on, the strategic plan seems to accept these trends as a given, and instead proposes moving ahead with a different set of priorities. The core values referenced include “Storytelling and Visitor Experience”, “By locals, For locals”, “Gathering and Connection”, “Vendor and Market Excellence”, “Inclusion”, “Sustainability” and “Growth and Experimentation”.
These are of course essential elements that need to be considered in a historic, public institution, but once again we see a notable absence of something in this presentation of strategic priorities.
Food.
Without explicitly mentioning local food as a central component of the strategic plan, the door is left open to gradually re-purpose the building into something that is less of a place to get local food, and more of an open-ended gathering space.
After looking over the document, I met with some city councilors to discuss in more depth. It is clear that the City Market comes with a great deal of history, baggage, and divergent ideas on how to navigate changing needs in the community, the economy, and our culture.
In one meeting I was surprised to hear one suggestion that City Market should not compete with grocery stores. Over the years, there have been several attempts from developers and grass-roots community groups to attract a grocery store development to the uptown. There is no question that if the city market had less of a focus on food, a grocery store development could be more attractive to a developer.
Is the City facing pressure behind the scenes?
In 2021, a series of new articles announced local developer Percy Wilbur had purchased the long-vacant property at 91 King Street, which sits directly beside the City Market. Some articles mentioned a plan for a grocery store was in the works. Two years, later, a large gaping hole remains in its place, amid stalled plans, and no sunset clause in place to hold the developer to account.
There is no question that this development creates an ongoing embarrassment for both the developer and the city, after greenlighting the project so quickly without due diligence. The pressure to kick-start this development must be significant for all parties, and the pressure to make deals behind the scenes to help secure more investment and long-term tenants will continue to grow.
But the hopes and aspirations of private developers should never be a consideration in the overall strategy for the City Market, which is a public institution to serve the public need for local food, and the need for small business owners to find an affordable space where they can start a business to meet that public need.
The City Market should absolutely compete with grocery stores. We can clearly see the damage that has been done by the large grocery retailers over the years, with increasing food prices, massive profits, and price-fixing scandals. Local food vendors provide us with an opportunity to access food directly from local farmers and producers, outside the control of corporate grocery chains.
Grocery stores should absolutely compete with the City Market. They can provide variety and more affordable options for residents. It was not that long ago when there were three grocery stores in the uptown area: Dominion on King Square, IGA on Union Street, and Save-Easy on Carmarthen. At that time, the City Market was full of vendors, and customers. Competition in food retailers creates a healthy ecosystem that the uptown desperately needs.
How do we tap into the demand for food?
We have all heard the argument that we don’t have the population uptown to support a larger grocery store. But the uptown population is steadily growing. The most recent data from Statistics Canada shows our local population has grown by 2.4%.
In addition to this growth, on any given workday, the population uptown increases by about 10,000 people who come uptown to work. They already have a parking spot, are within walking distance of the City Market, and have disposable income. It’s an untapped market that provides unique opportunities for vendors.
The City Market is already well positioned to become a flagship food destination for the entire region, flooded with vendors and customers. There is more than enough public demand and more than enough vendors to support it.
But looking at the current strategic plan, there appears to be much more focus on creating a multi-purpose space, and less of a focus on meeting the needs of our local food vendors who need affordable space to run their business, and our growing community with a growing appetite for diverse, healthy, and affordable food options. It struck me as a missed opportunity.
The demand for locally-sourced food continues to grow in our region. It only takes one weekend to see that we have a solid business case for farmer’s markets here, with the continued growth of the Boyce Farmer’s Market in Fredericton, the Kingston Farmer’s Market, Gagetown, and the Queen Square Farmer’s Market here in Saint John.
The Strategic Plan for the City Market brings forward some great ideas, which include a long-overdue re-imaging of the space, and addresses some key governance-related issues. But the overall strategy has a significant blind spot when it comes to one thing that brings people to the market.
Food.
For residents who have diverse and growing food needs, and vendors who need access to affordable infrastructure to meet these needs, the City Market provides us with an opportunity to meet these needs under one roof.
The needs of local food vendors and residents should be central to the mission and vision, and there should be tangible, measurable targets that can help us to define the long-term success of the City Market, which are tied to the success or vendors, and the accessibility of local food for residents.
Let’s Keep Talking
One of the most promising outcomes of this Strategic Planning process was the formation of the Strategic Planning Committee that started it all. By all indications, this committee was limited in scope to operate for 18 months to develop the 10-year strategic plan, and will soon be dissolved.
Part of the Strategic Plan includes a review of governance for the City market, and this is an area that still remains unclear. Governance was a key issue mentioned throughout the document, but a clear plan for governance remains to be defined. Given the growing and public need for access to diverse, affordable and healthy food, the City market is a Public Service that should remain directly accountable to the public.
This is the right time to start the discussion about the formation of a permanent and dedicated board or commission to oversee the governance of the City Market, to ensure the Strategic Plan is implemented in the best interests of residents and vendors, and to ensure this critical public institution meets the growing food needs in our community, and remains “For Locals, By Locals”.
