Spokane In The Market For Marketplaces

Until a few years ago, there was no public marketplace in Spokane.

Soon there may be two:

One outdoors in Riverfront Park, on the south span of the Howard Street Bridge.

The other indoors at the landmark old Schade Brewery building, overlooking the park on the East.

The Spokane MarketPlace, a 4-year-old nonprofit market evicted last fall from quarters at Riverside and Division, now has its sights set on the park.

But that’ll require the city’s approval. The soonest a decision would likely be made is at the next meeting of the park board April 13, according to Tom Culberston, president of the marketplace, a nonprofit corporation.

Meantime, a for-profit entrepreneur is mailing out invitations to a meeting Sunday, April 2, at the Schade Brewery building, 528 E. Trent. At the meeting, vendors can sign up for space in a brand new indoor public marketplace in the architecturally elegant old brewery.

The Schade Brewery Public Market would open by the end of May or in June, says Gailya Bonzon, owner of the old brewery building with her husband, Louis. They, too, must iron out some matters with city officials before they can get going, she says.

The Bonzons also own and operate an antique store and a carpet outlet in the turn-of-the-century brewery. The carpets will be moved off the main floor to a lower level to make way for the marketplace.

The Bonzons are recruiting artisans, growers and other vendors of the type that have been renting stalls at the Spokane MarketPlace.

Last season, the Spokane MarketPlace boasted an average of about 70 outdoor vendors, and served 300,000 customers.

The old warehouse, the marketplace’s center of operations, is owned by the state’s Joint Center for Higher Education, which oversees the nearby Riverpoint Higher Education Park.

Just a couple weeks ago, marketplace officials were turned down again by their former landlord. With only two months to go before its scheduled opening Saturday, May 6, Bloomsday weekend, the future looked doubtful at best.

“It’s just been the past few days this new possibility opened up,” says Culberston. “Hopefully we have a place.”

Hal McGlathery, park manager, is receptive to the idea of the marketplace renting the north span of the Howard Street Bridge a few days a week, Culbertson said. Instead of permanent structures, stalls would occupy awnings and tents that could easily be erected and struck each day the market is open.

Culberston says the marketplace would pay the city rent and “a few other odds and ends” for the space. Also, the park would benefit from having an attraction.

At its old location, the Spokane MarketPlace charged vendors an average of about $20 a day.

A couple weeks ago, when the landlord refused a final plea by the Spokane MarketPlace’s to renew its lease, Culbertson said the non-for-profit corporation doesn’t have the money to pay fair market rents.

But entrepreneur Gailya Bonzon says she hopes to make a profit from renting stalls at about the same price. “I’m basing my charges on theirs,” she says.

She said about 35 vendors have indicated an interest in space. Some are vendors from the Spokane MarketPlace, others are new to the trade, she said.

She expects to sign most of them and possibly quite a few others as well at the meeting Sunday at 2 p.m. at the brewery. All interested are welcome, she says, whether they receive an invitation or not. Anyone wishing information may call 455-9584 or 624-0272.

“It was never my intention to take anything away from them,” Bonzon says of the Spokane MarketPlace. “But their continued existence is uncertain. This building is so conducive to a marketplace format.”

Also, many vendors called both before and after the Spokane MarketPlace lost its lease, inquiring into the possibility of renting space, she says.

“And this is is a free enterprise system,” she says. “But hopefully the Spokane Marketplace will reopen, too. I don’t want to split them up.”

She thinks there are plenty of would-be vendors for two marketplaces.

Culbertson’s philosophy also is live and let live. “Two marketplaces?” he said. “It could happen.”

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