Join the conversation on changes planned for the West Side Market.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Plenty of folks love West Side Market, Cleveland's grand 1912 public market featuring ethnic foods, prepared foods and one big slice of the city's personality.
This week, city officials announced they were considering adding Sunday hours, creating Wednesday evening hours and charging for parking.
More than 250 comments were made on the original story by Michelle Jarboe McFee.
Here's a selection of what commenters had to say:
Hootenany
The market needs to respond to the way people shop today if it wants to survive. As a nearby resident I am frustrated that my only option for market shopping is Saturday because I work 8-6 every day. They seem to be focusing too much on parking and not enough on hours.
scott69
there really needs to be a nice area to sit down, relax and enjoy dining on one's west side market food purchases, and watch the crowds.
until there is a year round indoor cafe/dining area with nice tables and comfortable chairs, the terminal is well, mainly a place you take tourists to from out of town. it is not a destination for many of us who live here on a weekly basis. too many negatives: parking, hours, no place to enjoy the atmosphere and visuals of the market - to just hang out and have some food fun!
so please try to figure out where to locate a great sit-down cafe/dining area - inside the market.
@gadgetking2015
yes i agree. but what about taking the area between the market building and the side building venue where they sell a lot of produce (north side annex), and cover that space with a glass roof and offer year around indoor dining? right now that area is just quick walk/pass through between the buildings and often full of dirty garbage, pigeon droppings and the often forlorn looking person eating a sandwich on a wood bench! not very appealing or customer pleasing!
thinkthntalk
I see it a bit differently. I go to the market for excellent ingredients and I'll cook those at home. But especially if I'm shopping with a friend, I like to go to lunch in the neighborhood after parking and then shop. So I hope the parking solution that is devised might take into account that there are many businesses along W25 that benefit from WSM crowds on Saturdays. Maybe a combination of validation for a purchase and modest hourly fees for stays past 90 minutes.
ClintonFoundation
Ohio City will not survive long term unless they solve the parking problem.... there are not enough Millennials living there to support the businesses and the Market... like it or not... folks from the suburbs and other neighborhoods in Cleveland need to get there to keep it alive...
Big M
I'd agree to accept free parking only for the first hour since my trips there are mostly in and out; any shorter period before having to pay an hourly rate and the value proposition vs shopping elsewhere for just a few items fades. Free 1-hour parking should allow many shoppers to get what they need and leave without having to pay while hopefully increasing parking lot turnover by keeping cheapskate loiterers in check.
PizzaPuppy
The city has no business running a market. Outsource managing the WSM to a company that knows what they're doing.
gadgetking2015
why? so the management company can make all decisions based on how big of a profit they can make for themselves?
dunlopreggie
Why can't the WSM be a food court, the most varied and unique food court in the area, or even in the country? A good idea would be for more of the vendors to have their products cooked and prepared for eating right there. If people try it and like it, they would be more willing to take a chance on the product, especially some of the less traditional food items. Since the hipsters have replaced the housewives, then at least get the hipsters to buy the products instead of just treating the WSM as a museum rather than a retail outlet.
But if West Side Market is going to have some really tasty stuff that I can't get elsewhere, and I can get it at 2 in the afternoon, then I'll be a lot more anxious to go.
Avanti_Maserati
I'll visit NEVER if I have to pay to park. Hartville flea market has fresh produce too, and it's closer to where I live.
terminalcorruption
Long overdue -- if it would have happened 40 years ago, many families who shopped there would have never left. Now it will take time to lure back solid, weekly shoppers. I sympathize with the merchant who said people treat the market like they're visiting the "zoo." Yet zoo shoppers might ultimately become grocery shoppers if the market's hours mesh with theirs . . . May the market live long and may the merchants prosper.
Cleveland wsm
This article doesn't cover half of the story. It doesn't mention how the market got to this problem today, it just talks about the city is fixing the parking problem. Maybe they should've said that many of the bars opened with no real parking because the city played around with the parking zones to make it legal for them to open, knowing that this is going to cause parking issues to the wsm parking lot.. instead this article talks about them being the heroes.
Isitnextyearyet
Hey Ignatius, charge $10.00 to park and include a van ride to the market and pick up every 15 minutes, guaranteed money maker. 100 cars or more a Saturday and twice as much before Holidays...easy money
Legrandquartiergeneral
Circling the lots is a major reason I don't go down there more, and you're right, spots are being eaten up by employees and patrons of the other area businesses.
Ended up at a pay lot across the street the last time. I don't mind paying, because it's more of an "event" for my family when we go down there (and yes, we buy plenty). But for others who rely on it for their weekly groceries, I can see where the pay-to-park plan would be an issue.
Last time I was there, I counted about 25 cars circling -- so adding 100 spaces would probably alleviate some of the problem, at least in the short term. I hope they figure something out that works, because more people could enjoy it more often.
fedup
I have shopped at the market for the past 20 years. You cannot beat the quality of the items purchased there. You do need to be careful at which stands you shop. I have been shopping the same vendors and anyone who shops regularly understands and knows which stands to frequent. I fit my visits in first thing in the morning on Saturday. Why change a good thing and mess with the hours? This will lead to higher costs due to having to pay more employees to work the vendors stands. Speak to most vendors and they will tell you this, or they will not open the additional hours, and pay any "fine" imposed on them. This would cost less in the long run than having to hire additional help. The parking is a mess, I would agree, if you do not get there by 10 AM on Friday, or 9 AM on Saturday, forget getting a spot. When the whole area around the market began to boom, why didn't the city leaders act with foresight, and add additional parking at that point. A garage could have been added years ago, that would have helped with the congestion.
squeapler
If you have a market that's only decent to visit before 9 am on a Saturday, you're losing a large number of customers. Not everybody will bother getting up that early to go to a market. I personally patronize a lot of shops and vendors that offer late afternoon or even evening hours on a Saturday. Those that don't bother obviously don't want my business and Heinen's and Giant Eagle are right there to take my money instead.
Michelle Jarboe McFee, The Plain Dealer
Thanks for commenting. There have been parking-garage feasibility studies for the market district, but the problem is that parking garages in Cleveland are expensive to build, hard to finance and generally don't make money. I expect you'll see some parking incorporated into private real estate developments in or near the Market District over the next few years, but a standalone garage seems like a long shot right now.