Recent growth in Ohio City's Market District has triggered questions about how to preserve its traditions while adapting to what consumers and neighbors want.
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View full sizeWest Side Market, which will celebrate its centennial in 2012, is the largest and most prominent landmark in Ohio City. But some consumers are asking for more parking, more local food and Sunday hours.Businesses are thriving, new restaurants and shops are moving in, and the neighborhood is winning accolades for its vibrancy and authenticity.
But according to panelists at Tuesday's City Club discussion on the Market District, that growth has also triggered questions about how to preserve its traditions while adapting to what consumers and neighbors want.
Since the West Side Market opened in 1912, "the world has changed around the market, and the market has changed very little," said panelist Eric Wobser, executive director of Ohio City Inc.
The market has lost some of its local flavor over the years, "and we want that back as a community," he said.
The West Side Market has been lavished with national attention, from the Food Network and the Travel Channel to its recent selection as the host city for the eighth International Public Markets Conference in 2012, beating out London, Toronto, Seattle and Charleston, S.C.
"The West Side Market was doing local food before local food was cool," said Joe Frolik, chief editorial writer and columnist for The Plain Dealer, and moderator of Tuesday's panel.
He wondered about the possibility of using the market to nuture small businesses, such as Ohio City Pasta.
Jeff Campbell of Campbell's Popcorn Shop moved into the West Side Market in 2004 after 23 years at places like Randall Park Mall.
"We came into the market with the idea of using it as a test market for new products," he said.
He found such an enthusiastic following for his cheesy-caramel Dichotomy Popcorn, candy apples and chocolates that he is opening a candy factory and second Ohio City store on Aug. 9.
Sam McNulty last month opened his fourth Ohio City business in a former poultry slaughterhouse next door to the market.
His $2 million Market Garden Brewery & Distillery is drawing thirsty crowds despite the fact that it is located across the street from the bigger and better-known Great Lakes Brewing Co.
McNulty said that not only has Great Lakes Brewing had its best year ever, but USA Today recently named Ohio City one of its "10 Great Places to Bar Hop Around the World."
The West Side Market welcomes tourists, but its bread and butter come from Ohioans who stop by regularly to stock up on staples.
Some of those people are now asking for more parking, more locally grown food and for the market to open on Sundays.
"A lot of us drive to Crocker Park and Shaker Square (farmers markets) to get local food grown by local farmers," said Ohio City resident Jason Bristol. "If it's hard to get a stall, how are we going to get local food into the market?"
West Side Market Manager Christine Zuniga-Eadie said there are efforts under way to get more local food, perhaps from urban or regional farms.
Ohio City, home to 12,000 residents and more than 150 businesses, is evolving into a neighborhood with nearly 24-hour activity.
"In a little over two years, we've had over $40 million in private investment, over 20 new businesses have moved into the area and many of them are thriving," Wobser said.
On Saturdays, the streets are bustling from when the market opens at 7 a.m. to when the bars shoo out their last patrons at 2:30 a.m., he added.
"Why are the hours the way they are and would it ruin the character of the market to be open Saturday and Sunday?" one person asked at Tuesday's forum. The market is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Wobser said that although surveys have found that Sundays are the second busiest days for supermarkets, the majority of the West Side Market's vendors are family businesses who might have a hard time operating another day.