Could a New Public Market Survive Downtown?

 

Market would use ground floor of the Selling Building, left, and two-story building, right

Plans are certainly aggressive for a James Beard Public Market that would contain a restaurant, numerous fresh food stalls, a bookstore, cooking classes and an event space in the 600 block of SW Alder Street.

The proposed market would use the ground floor of the Selling Building at the corner of 6th and Alder, and an adjacent two-story building and basemen that the market has purchased next door.

 A successful new food venue surely would be a big “plus” for a downtown struggling with far fewer workers and many more shrouded retail windows than it had just a few years ago.  But even if the ambitious plans come to pass, will they succeed?

 History provides us with some interesting analogs.  Long story short: Success is not a slam dunk.

Beard Market supporters mention the wonders of Seattle’s Pike Place Market that has been a fresh food retail paradise – and tourist attraction – since its founding in 1909.  Interestingly, a young grocery clerk named Fritz Grubmeyer lived nearby and saw the value of the market from the outset.

 The young Grubmeyer later shortened his name to Fred G. Meyer and became one of the primary operators of the Carroll Public Market that on Portland’s SW Yamhill Street.  Meyer ran some stalls himself under sidewalk tarps and leased stalls to others between SW 1st and 5th Avenues.   From its beginning in 1914 with the city government’s approval, the market was a success.  Alas, the rise of the automobile put increasing pressure on use of Yamhill Street and City Hall came up with a new plan.

Carroll Market on Yamhill Street, 1925

The Carroll Public Market closed in 1934, which marked the opening of the huge Portland Public Market building that stretched 600 north and south at the foot of Yamhill Street at Front Street.  Alas, four lanes of traffic separated the building from the heart of downtown.  Fred Meyer and many other sellers at the Carroll Public Market refused to move to the new building.

 Meyer, of course, took his growing business indoors.  Over the decades he built a chain of Fred Meyer stores that added clothes and many other retail categories, making it the first “one-stop shopping” complex in the Pacific Northwest before his death in 1978.

Public Market Before its Failure

Meanwhile, the Portland Public Market limped along for a few years before closing as a failure.  The building was leased for military use during part of World War II, and then was sold to become home of the Oregon Journal newspaper for several years.  Ironically, the building was purchased by the city government and then demolished in 1969 to help make way for the new Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

 Which brings us full circle.  Could the new James Beard Public Market succeed?  For the good of downtown Portland, one hopes the answer would be “yes.”

But on the other hand, will many workers be returning downtown when the pandemic has taught them the benefits from working on computers at home?  Will many people desire to live downtown when it is less attractive than it used to be?   Can the market survive or thrive with competition from seasonal farmers’ markets in the South Park Blocks?

 Someday, history will reveal the answers.  A proposed opening date has yet to be determined. 

 ----Fred Leeson

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