Market shopping in North America
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A
Grand Central Market
The frenzied and sawdust-sprinkled Grand Central Market across the street has some fun nosh spots.
reviewed
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B
ByWard Market
The ByWard Market, at the corner of George St and ByWard St, is the best place in town for one-stop shopping. Vendors cluster around the old maroon-brick market building, erected in the 1840s. Outdoor merchants operate booths from 6am to 6pm year-round (although the winter weather drastically reduces the number of businesses). In summer, over 175 stalls fill the streets, selling fresh produce from local farms, flowers, seafood, cheese, baked goods and kitschy souvenirs. Dalhousie St, a block east of the market, has been rising in popularity with a smattering of hipster boutiques and fashion houses.
reviewed
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C
Ward Farmers Market
Ward Farmers Market, across the street from Ward Center, is this almost daily fresh market and grocery. For the average tourist, a visit here is more like sightseeing for food and is a good introduction to Hawaiian and Asian dishes and ingredients, from local produce to prepared meals. The market covers the budget range from blue collar to gourmet imports.
reviewed
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D
Saturday Market
For great fun and a quintessential introduction to Eugene's peculiar vitality, don't miss the Saturday Market, held each Saturday from March through November at E 8th Ave and Oak St. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas it's renamed the Holiday Market and moves indoors to the Lane Events Center at 13th Ave and Jefferson St.
reviewed
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local market
The local market on the west side of the Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra is where you can find everything from fruit, vegetables and fresh trout to herbal medicines, crafts and clothing - including the region's distinctive striped shawls and sarapes. There's outstanding cheap food, too.
reviewed
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E
Halifax Farmers' Brewery Market
North America's oldest farmers' market, in the 1820s Keith's Brewery Building, is the ultimate Maritime shopping experience. Head here to people-watch and buy organic produce, jewellery, clothes and crafts. Come early or late to avoid the crowds.
reviewed
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F
Santa Barbara farmers market
Stock up on fresh produce, nuts and honey at the Santa Barbara farmers market held late afternoon Tuesday on the 500 and 600 blocks of State St between E Haley and E Ortega Sts, and Saturday morning at the corner of Santa Barbara and Cota Sts.
reviewed
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G
Cherokee Antique Row
If you love antiques, you'll love Cherokee Antique Row in the appropriately historic Cherokee-Lemp neighborhood.
reviewed
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H
El Paseo
Locally-owned shops and restaurants fill this tiny, flower-festooned courtyard opposite Paseo Nuevo.
reviewed
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I
Main & North Arcades
Rachel the Market Pig marks the main entrance to the Main and North Arcades, thin shed-like structures that run along the edge of the hill; these are the busiest of the market buildings. With banks of fresh produce carefully arranged in artful displays, and fresh fish, crab and other shellfish piled high on ice, this is the real heart of the market. Here you’ll see fishmongers tossing salmon back and forth like basketballs (many of these vendors will pack fish for overnight delivery). You’ll also find cheese shops, butchers, tiny grocery stalls and almost everything else you need to put together a meal. The end of the North Arcade is dedicated to local artisans and crafts…
reviewed
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Virgin Trading Post
Fourteen miles west of Springdale, you can’t help but pass a Virgin. The town, named after the river (what else?), has an odd claim to fame – in 2000 the council passed a law requiring every resident to own a gun. Locals are fined $500 if they don’t. Kolob Terrace Rd takes off north from here to Lava Point in Zion National Park. The huge store at the Virgin Trading Post sells homemade fudge, ice cream and every Western knickknack known to the free world. But it’s the hard-to-miss Old West Village (admission $1) that’s the real reason to stop. Have your picture taken inside the ‘Virgin Jail’ or ‘Wild Ass Saloon’ before you feed the deer, donkey and llama in the pet…
reviewed
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J
Eastern Market
The Capitol dome might win the word-image association game with visitors, but ‘the’ Market probably sweeps the title among locals when it comes to Capitol Hill. That’s because Eastern Market makes the Hill a neighborhood as opposed to…well, a hill. Packed with good food, crafts and every ethnicity in the area, this roofed bazaar is a must-visit on weekends. Built in 1873, it is the last of the 19th-century covered markets that once supplied most of DC’s food. South Hall has food stands, bakeries, flower stands and delis. North Hall is an arts center where craftspeople sell handmade wares. Come Christmas, this is the best place in town to buy a tree.
reviewed
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K
New Maxwell St Market
Every Sunday morning hundreds of vendors set up stalls that sell everything from Cubs jerseys in the wrong colors to tube-sock 10-packs to tacos for $1. Don’t let the name mislead you: the market is not actually on Maxwell St, though it was for decades until the ever-sprawling University of Illinois at Chicago campus forced it to relocate. Also, it’s not really ‘new’ anymore, since the move happened in 1994. Still, it’s an entertaining place to nosh with abandon, pick up a new stereo or buy hubcaps (legitimately obtained, versus the days of yore, when odds were they’d be fresh from your own car).
reviewed
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L
Lonsdale Quay
As well as being a transportation hub – this is where the SeaBus from downtown docks and you pick up transit buses to Capilano, Grouse and beyond – this waterfront facility built for Expo ’86 houses a colorful indoor market. The region’s second-best market (after Granville Island), this one is a popular spot for fresh fruit and glassy-eyed whole fish on the main floor and trinkets and clothing on the 2nd floor. There’s also a lively food court and a couple of sit-down restaurants. It’s a nice afternoon jaunt from the city, with many visitors scooping up an ice cream and lingering over the boardwalk vistas of downtown.
reviewed
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M
Randolph Street Market
This market, which styles itself on London’s Portobello Market, has become quite the to-do in town. It takes place inside the beaux-arts Plumbers Hall, where more than 200 antique dealers hock collectibles, costume jewelry, furniture, books, Turkish rugs and pinball machines. One of the coolest facets is the Indie Designer Fashion Market, where the city’s fledgling designers sell their one-of-a-kind skirts, shawls, handbags and other pieces. In summer the action spills into the street. A free trolley picks up patrons at Water Tower Place hourly. Note there are no markets in January, April, October and December.
reviewed
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Ellis Tanner Trading Company
Just south of town is one of Gallup's most interesting shops. The Ellis Tanner Trading Company is one of the Southwest’s largest, functional traditional Indian trading posts. Owned by the same family, the Tanners, for four generations, it serves as a sort of combination of shop, bank and community meeting center for the local Navajo community – Gallup is just outside the Navajo Reservation. The parking lot of the huge complex is always packed with pick-up trucks out of which spill entire families who’ve driven hundreds of miles to sell, pawn or trade their wares.
reviewed
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Friends Market
Immediately south of College Hill is Fox Point, the waterfront neighborhood where the city’s substantial Portuguese population resides. Though gentrification has taken place with influxes of Brown University professors and students and artists from RISD, you can still find an old-world style grocery like the Friends Market tucked in among the trendy coffeehouses, salons and galleries. Most activity in Fox Point centers on Wickenden St with its restaurants, art supply store, incredible eyeglass shop (Gregory’s Optical) and several home-furnishing boutiques.
reviewed
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N
Tony’s Colonial Food
Among the most colorful of Providence’s neighborhoods is fervently Italian Federal Hill (when Tony Soprano’s crew needed a special job done, they came here to enlist the aid of a geriatric, blind hit man). It’s a great place to wander, taking in the aromas of sausages, peppers and garlic from neighborhood groceries such as Tony’s Colonial Food. Many of Providence’s best restaurants are on Atwells Ave, a street you can easily identify by looking for a large, floodlit pineapple suspended from a concrete arch spanning the traffic below.
reviewed
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O
Maxwell Street Market
Every Sunday morning hundreds of vendors set up stalls that sell everything from Jesus statues to 10 packs of tube socks to power tools. Don’t let the name mislead you: the market is not actually on Maxwell St, though it was for decades until gentrification forced it onward. It has become a hot spot for foodies craving homemade churros, tamales, gorditas and other Mexican noshes, and for folks seeking cheap clothing, electronics and junk galore. The city now runs the market, and it’s supposed to be bringing back live blues bands, which were a feature back in the old days.
reviewed
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P
Dieppe Farmers' Market
The weekly Dieppe Farmers' Market is a great place to get a taste – literally – of New Brunswick's vibrant Acadian culture. Stalls overflow with locally-made cheeses, cottage wines and homemade preserves as well as Acadian dishes such as tortière, chicken fricot and rabbit pie. Nibble sweet pastries such as plogues and guaffres while browsing the craft stalls. To get there from downtown, head 2km east on Main St, which becomes Champlain, to Acadie Ave. Look for the yellow roof.
reviewed
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Q
Chinatown Night Market
Smaller and less frenetic than its clamorous Richmond brother, this colorful downtown evening bazaar lures with its sensory combination of cheap trinkets, knock-off designer goods and aromatic hawker food – it’s like a walk-through buffet of noodles, fish balls and bubble tea. There’s live music on stage most nights and, once the sun sets and all you can hear are Chinese voices, it’s not hard to imagine yourself in Hong Kong. Order a fresh coconut (plus a straw) and you’ll fit right in.
reviewed
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R
Artists' Market
With a back entry on antique-mad lower Decatur St, this sizable emporium is a conglomerate of consignment dealers and artists who sell their own work. A walk-through is like snorkeling through a dense reef of art. You'll find yourself surrounded by paintings, prints, handmade glass beads, original lamps, candle holders, cast-iron designs and one-of-a-kind Mardi Gras masks. A few of the artists work on site. In all, the works of some 70 artists is sold here.
reviewed
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S
Aspen Saturday Market
This market blooms on Saturday mornings. It's more than just a farmers market, though self-caterers can grab their organic fruits and veggies, craftsmen cheese, and naturally and locally grown beef, bison and elk here. It also has tons of crafts, including handmade soap, silver jewelry and fixed-gear bikes built with vintage frames.
The market runs in a U-shape from Hyman to Hopkins on Hunter before turning down both Hyman and Hopkins to Galena.
reviewed
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T
Greenflea
One of the oldest open-air markets in the city, this friendly, well-stocked flea market is the perfect addition to a lazy Upper West Side Sunday morning. You’ll find a little bit of everything here, including vintage and contemporary furnishings, antique maps, custom eyewear, hand-woven scarves, handmade jewelry, antique lamps, custom-made T-shirts and so much more. Check the website for weekly vendor details.
reviewed
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U
Brattleboro Farmers Market
Offering an excellent crash course in Vermont food, the Brattleboro Farmers Market boasts as many as 70 local vendors selling cheese, free-range beef and lamb, honey, pastries, maple syrup and fruit. Live music and a lively crafts scene round out the experience. The Saturday market is just west of town by the Creamery Bridge, while the Wednesday market is held in the Merchants Bank Building parking lot off Main St.
reviewed
