‘Touch, taste, smell’ local: new market to open in fall

If you’re a fan of shopping local – or would like to become a fan – it’s about to become easier for you.

A new place in Regina called The Local Market is set to be a one-stop-shop for products and food made in Saskatchewan.

“Think of enjoying an afternoon spent gathering beautiful food for your family and for your home … the difference being you know that your dollar is going to someone who made that right here, in your own community,” said Jennifer Rathwell, co-owner of Local and Fresh.

Rathwell’s company partnered with All-Rite Group Companies for the market to open in the thriving warehouse district. It will be located at 1377 Hamilton St., the former Weston Bakery building.

“It’s the vision of Fred Mehl, who’s the vice-president over at All-Rite. He has always had a vision of this place being a market since they required the building,” she said.

When All-Rite first approached Local and Fresh, Rathwell said they were a “little baby company” in their developing stage.

“We thought, “That would be wonderful, but I don’t know if we can deliver that.’ But as the years went by and they’ve been working to restore the building and we’ve been growing and going, finally the time was right.”

For three years, Local and Fresh have delivered fresh, locally grown food to the Regina area. With the opening of the market, Rathwell said people will be able to do so much more.

THE BUILDING

“The first bay, which is absolutely beautiful, it has all these wonderful windows in this kind of rustic warehouse space, that’s going to be sort of a local food court,” she said. “We’re going to be bringing in some chefs to work on maybe creating a lunch and breakfast type counter, they’ll be a coffee bar in there and there’s also room for pop-up vendors.”

Rathwell said it’s the perfect area for vendors who are just getting started out and are wanting to try out different items with the public before they ship them away for packaging. The second bay she described as a retail store.

“You’ll be able to come in and touch, taste, smell, and experience the food the wonderful bounties Saskatchewan has to offer,” she said.

Rathwell said they’re most excited about the third bay as it’s a bit of a community aspect.

“There’s room in there for it to be just about anything,” she said. “They’ll be market days, seasonal celebrations, it’s available for private bookings … it’s just a wonderful, really cool space inside Regina’s Warehouse District.”

Rathwell couldn’t stress enough how this market will be for everyone in the community.

“Sometimes people get it in their heads that you know ‘Oh local, or fancy, or that downtown market is not for me’ absolutely not,” she said. “This is going to be a place where we’ll see families and this is going to be a place where hopefully they’ll enjoy spending an afternoon.”

The Local Market is slated to open in early fall.