The Corporation of Findlay Market is reporting that the historic market in Over-the-Rhine saw the number of shopping visits increase in 2010.
The increase in shoppers marks the fifth consecutive year of growth for Findlay Market. More than 800,000 shoppers in 2010 represented a 5.6 percent increase from 2009. The Corporation says that this growth was complimented by four of the five busiest weeks in Findlay Market’s 156-year history.
Findlay Market first started collecting this data in 2006 by installing electronic pedestrian counters near the doors to the market house. Since that time, they state that there has been a 66 percent increase in the number of shoppers. Recently added tenants have spoke to the central location and types of shoppers present at Findlay Market as being a major draw.
“We looked around town at other possible locations, but the reason Findlay stood out in our minds is because we know the crowds that go there are often for the fresh produce and farmers markets,” Dan Wells, Sushi Bears chef, explained to UrbanCincy last October shortly before they opened.
The growth in the number of shoppers coincides nicely with the recent news that the historic market house is now 100 percent leased after being only 47 percent full when the City of Cincinnati completed a $16 million renovation in 2004. Officials are now working with Findlay Market on how to expand retail space to surrounding buildings.
The first such example is Daisy Mae’s Market, which announced it had purchased a three-story building nearby to expand their storage and preparation areas for deliveries. Additionally, four other tenants have reportedly applied for new leases at Findlay Market with no room to accommodate them.
“We are very encouraged that more and more people are moving back into Downtown and Over-the-Rhine,” Findlay Market marketing director Cheryl Eagleson stated. “They want all the usual services within the urban core…and one of those is the availability of quality foods.”
Findlay Market (map) is open year-round from 9am to 6pm Tuesday through Friday, 8am to 6pm on Saturday, and 10am to 4pm on Sunday. Some tenants, including Pho Lang Thang, have experimented with later hours into the evening but have yet to set formal operation hours to those later times.
Findlay Market photography provided by UrbanCincy contributor 5chw4r7z.
