Shopping : Development News

After a short break, the Northeast Farmers Market is returning with its first indoor market of the season on Dec. 15 at the Eastside Food Cooperative in Northeast Minneapolis.

The opening day of the market, which runs monthly through May, features books for sale from the Friends of the Northeast Library, a performance from musician Matt Yetter and a massage chair, according to Northeast Farmers Market information.

The indoor market offers apples, honey products, homemade jam, hand-rolled spring rolls, grass-fed beef, eggs, bread, desserts, and handicrafts.

Although this is a smaller-scale version of the summer market, each of its 10 vendors this season have been a part of it before, according to Sarah Knoss, who oversees the Northeast Farmers Market.

That familiarity has advantages for shoppers. “We have a lot of loyal friends and fans that like to visit our vendors,” she says via email.

Besides the fact that people can access some of their favorite vendors year-round, it’s about shopping and eating locally. “We bring livability to the community and foster sustainability to the Northeast neighborhood,” she says.

The local nonprofit organizations, artists, and craftspeople that grace the market on a regular basis make it unique, she says.

Although the summer market has been successful over the past 12 years, the indoor market is still growing. “There is traffic from the coop and our fans know that we are there but we are trying to get the word out,” she says.

A number of other local farmers markets, including the St. Paul Farmers Market, the Kingfield and Fulton Farmers Market and the Minneapolis Farmers Market, have wintertime sales.   

More broadly, “It's really just a way for all of us to get together and enjoy what we do,” she says. “It keeps the us going and motivated to bake, make, and grow.”

Source: Sarah Knoss, manager, Northeast Farmers Market
Writer: Anna Pratt

The five-year-old Nicollet East Harriet Business Association is always looking for creative ways to connect the business nodes in Southwest Minneapolis.

Under the umbrella of Experience Southwest, this holiday season it’s embarking on an early phase of a $40,000 place-making endeavor, with a marketing campaign that steers people to neighborhood shops, according to Matt Perry, who leads the business association.

“I don’t think we have to encourage people to shop local; I think they already want to do that," he says. "People just need the tools to shop local and raise awareness about the business and services and products.”

Based on marketing research that the business association undertook, “We have a broad marketing plan to do a destination identity for the area that gives a name to a place.”

For starters, the group has put together a holiday campaign kit that includes related brochures and a map of the 400 storefronts in the neighborhood.

The materials also have QR codes that people can scan with their smartphones; they land at the project's website, which has information about store sales, special events, deals, and more.  

The branding components, unified with a logo “give a sense of place from the perspective of shopping,” Perry says.

He adds that the promotion speaks to the fact that in Southwest Minneapolis, “The shopping experience is a special one because service is exceptional. You have a personal relationship with the owner of a business.”

It’s also a resource for business owners who “want to feel a sense of camaraderie and a sense of being part of something bigger.”  

Further down the line, the campaign will help sustain businesses during a couple of upcoming construction projects that will detour traffic.   

The business nodes are an important part of the fabric of the area, Perry says. “[They make] it unique and a great place to live."


Source: Matt Perry, Nicollet East Harriet Business Association
Writer: Anna Pratt