St. Jacobs Market new main building: get a sneak peek inside
The inside of the new St. Jacobs Farmers' Market main building is bright, sunny and smells sweet and woodsy, a testament to the hundreds of pieces of lumber that have gone into it. In one week, it will be flooded with shoppers, eager to see inside the building that is replacing the old, beloved market space.
Over the Labour Day long weekend two years ago, the old market building was destroyed in a fire so intense that 45 firefighters from four stations were needed to extinguish the flames. In the aftermath of the fire, Woolwich Fire Chief Rick Pederson said that a sprinkler system could have either saved or minimized the damage.
The new building comes equipped with not only a new sprinkler system but plenty of other features, which so far seem to be a hit with the lucky few who've managed to get a peek inside.
"Most people are telling me that they really like it and that's kind of a relief," said Marcus Shantz of the new space. He's the president of Mercedes Corp., which owns the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market.
"The acid test was when the vendors started coming in and they've been telling our team that when they come in they just feel like they've come home, and that means the most to us," he said.
Shantz and his team worked to make sure the new building felt like the old one, but took the opportunity to expand the space and add new features.
"The building's bigger, there's more elbow room, the aisles are 30 per cent wider, there's more places to sit, there's an elevator to get to the second floor, it's fully barrier free, so there's a lot of good stuff like that that we've put into it," he said.
I hope people who have been coming to the market for years come in and find it very familiar and feel like it's that they're back and that they're back at home,- Marcus Shantz, the President of Mercedes Corp., the company that owns St Jacobs Market
At 34,000 square feet, the new building is 10,000 square feet larger than the old one. Aisles are 13 feet wide instead of 10, allowing for extra space
"To be honest, it's a relief. We're a small company and everyone on our team needs to take a bit of a breather. For the vendors too, it's a long journey and they really depend on this for their business so it's a relief to get everyone back and operating," said Shantz.
Vendors are eager to get back in. Some have started moving their merchandise back in and setting up display racks. Shantz said there were 65 vendors in the old space, but there will be a few more in the new space.
"I think we're getting close to 70 at this point. There is 20 per cent more vendor space, a lot of that has been taken up actually by existing vendors but there will be a few more than in the old building," he said.
Not all of the vendors will be in place when the building opens on June 11, as there's still some work to be done to a venting system for vendors who prepare food on site, but the building will be open for business next Thursday," said Shatnz.
"I hope people who have been coming to the market for years come in and find it very familiar and feel like it's that they're back and that they're back at home," said Shantz.