Market disruptions
Vendors revolt as South Pas chamber hikes booth fees at popular farmers market
By Jake Armstrong 06/17/2010
The South Pasadena Farmers Market is a fairly idyllic locale. On any given Thursday afternoon, the rapturous scent of barbecued meat mingles with the fragrance of fresh-picked basil and oregano, while a street musician’s toy piano rings out a pleasantly discordant melody behind an empty instrument case serving as home to a handful of dollar bills.
So it’s odd that this peaceful place is the scene of a struggle rife with overtones of feudalism — one pitting a merchant class of vendors against the landed gentry, at least to those on one side of the conflict.
At issue is a change in the way the market’s new management charges some vendors for booth space. Instead of handing over 10 percent of their sales each week as rent, vendors must now either pay 12 percent or $75, whichever is higher.
But at stake, say a few vendors who refuse to submit to the changes, are the very notions and principles that sustain such markets, which are coming under fire as more markets seek to harvest their full and growing economic potential.
“I have a very romantic idea of what the farmers markets are supposed to represent, and this has busted all of that,” said Rey Koo, a cane juice vendor who is leading a revolt against the market’s new management. “It’s a hardcore business.”
The South Pasadena market seems to have found a successful niche in the community. When it debuted, the market brought in about $53,000 in fee revenue a year, said Scott Feldmann, president and CEO of the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, which now manages the market. At last check, that figure had more than doubled to $120,000 Feldmann said.
Until last week, when the new rent charges provoked an almost humorous standoff between the market management and the group of rebellious vendors, there was little discontent at the South Pasadena Farmers Market.
A local nonprofit association comprised of local merchants ran the market on behalf of the city until the association dissolved in 2009. In May, management duties were awarded to the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, which was among six bidders vying for the market contract, said Feldmann.
The cost to run the market increased, however, with the city demanding the chamber pay almost twice as much in franchise fees, Feldmann said. Stall rental fees had to increase as a result, he said, and nearly all of the market’s roughly 30 vendors complied.
But last week, about five vendors refused to pay the fees and began selling their olive oil, cane juice and other wares despite repeated orders from Feldmann to break down their booths and leave. Even as the police were being summoned, Peter Theodoropoulos was pushing his pitas and an assortment of Greek foods.
“They’re like pimps,” Theodoropoulos said, as he and others circulated a petition decrying the changes in no uncertain terms. “They’re going to destroy this business.”
Theodoropoulos insists the new charges would push him out of the market. While many of the food and produce vendors at the market bring in $700 or more in sales in one night, smaller vendors like Theodoropoulos usually pull down about $300, he said. Under the old fee schedule, that would cost him $30, which he said is fair rent for three to four hours. But under the new system, he’s required to pay $75, which cuts his proft for the night by about half, he said. He could focus on the 25 other markets he’s part of each week, but Theodoropoulos said he enjoys the rapport he’s built with his South Pasadena customers in the past seven years. He suspects an effort is under way to drive the less profitable vendors out of the farmers market. “People have to sustain their business, so basically they’re being extorted,” Theodoropoulos said.
The protest is baffling for other vendors.
“I just feel that it’s a privilege to be in that market. I really don’t understand why there are a few people who are upset,” said longtime Pasadena businessman Robin Salzer, owner of Robin’s Wood Fire BBQ and Grill, who’s brought his wood-fired barbecue truck to the market since its inception.
“Nobody forces you to be in that event,” said Salzer, who tweaked his prices a little to make up for the 2 percent increase. Moreover, the old fee was among the lowest in the area, and all the proposals from bidders on the market contract contained rent increases, Salzer said.
But at least one vendor who has paid the increased fees is standing in solidarity. Farrah Qureshi, who tends a rotisserie chicken stand, said the opportunity for profit may be obscuring the market’s main goal.
“It’s become a money-making machine,” she said. “It’s taken away that atmosphere of providing quality. This is one of our favorite markets, and it is not supposed to be this way.”
The wafting scents are enough to draw in Millie Gottier, who lives adjacent to the market. “I sniff and maybe I buy things,” said Gottier, 81. “The stuff is fresh. Yesterday, the carrots were in the ground.”
The number of farmers markets in the country has steadily increased in the past two decades. The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, which performs periodic surveys on farmers markets, tallied 5,274 markets last year, up 200 percent from the 1,755 it recorded in 1994. The agency also found that markets in the western US average monthly sales of about $50,000, with individual vendors in the region averaging nearly $700 a month in sales. About 25 percent of the vendors said farmers markets provided their sole source of income, according to the agency.
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Comments
I've shopped at this market for the last seven years. My kids have grown up on the produce and good vibes here. It's sad to see it change so quickly. Yesterday's shopping was cut short when i realized Burkhart Farms (premium avocados & stone fruit) had been replaced by a couple tables selling a handful of mismatched produce. A chain store fro-yogurt company handed out coupons from the space where once stood hand-made Indian food and raw cane juice. Urban Green's gone. Just big gaps of space are left from a once vibrant row of vendors who, over time, had become Thursday friends.
posted by petereed3 on 6/18/10 @ 10:14 a.m.
The smaller vendors tend to be where I like to shop at the market. In a city that has replaced "Mom&Pop" shops with the Paseo Colorado I am not surprised..... Stand your ground small vendors! I will support your business in other markets.
Shame on you South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce!!!!
"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot"
posted by cricket on 6/22/10 @ 04:30 a.m.
The new management should be able to run at a 10 percent commission, but it appears that they are more interested profits than servicing the community with more vendors. Vendors shouldn't be forced to raise prices. It's unfair to the community because customers end up with the bill.