about Cleveland’s iconic and popular but struggling nearly 110-year-old West Side Market. The market’s wonderful meats, bakery and other food items and sterling location still attract more than one million visitors a year -- and its hidden assets, both architecturally and structurally, could help power change and growth. But substantial investments and improved management, along with innovation to make it a must-see destination, are needed.
Thanks to Bibb, that option is now back on the table. Good -- although the study suggests that city money and engagement will continue to be needed to turn operations around, diversify revenue and upgrade the building. Among urgent tasks are to improve marketing and vendor relations and to find ways to be creative, as other public markets have done, with distinctive events that make the market an exciting destination again.
To the Jackson administration’s credit, it also has recognized the need to shore up the West Side Market’s creaking systems -- laying out $5.5 million since 2012 on a new parking system and emergency repairs and upgrades, the consultant report notes. Finally, there is the market’s increasingly dysfunctional vendor relationships -- not just with City Hall but also among vendors within the market.