Indoor farmer’s market coming to downtown Oshawa

By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express

Oshawa’s downtown core is getting a year-round, indoor farmers market.

Alexis Kofman, national director of B.I.G. Renovation and Development, says her company owns the building where the farmers market will open at the corner of Simcoe Street North and Bond Street East.

“The opportunity came up to purchase 27 Simcoe. It is an anchor building downtown,” she says.

Her company’s business platform is to create multi-residential, commercial, and mixed-use properties, and they don’t tear down the properties they purchase, but work with what’s there instead.

“We will use that property to abate it, retrofit it, go up – build density – but we generally will use the building’s existing structures,” she says.

Kofman believes there is a “desperate need” as downtown Oshawa changes from being a “GM town” to a community in flux.

“That’s not always easy, but there’s no place to buy groceries [downtown],” she says.

When they initially bought the property, the hope was to put in a grocery store, but none of the major or medium sized chains were interested.

So they had to find another way to fill the space.

“Many communities have gentrified… by using farmers markets, and creating a place where people can work, live, love, play and purchase local fresh produce, local breads, local cheeses, and do their groceries in a very European style,” she says.

The three-floor building is 11,000 sq. ft., and she says the main floor will be retrofitted for the farmers market, the basement will be an entertainment space, and the upper levels will be offices.

Kofman says right now they are negotiating to have something akin to an escape room in the basement for entertainment purposes.

“The building is obviously extremely steeped in history, and has some extremely cool features,” she says. “There are small underground tunnels… So it really lent itself to something cool like that.”

She says either way the goal is for people to come play a game, and the property will be entertainment and community based.

Kofman notes there are about eight spaces still available for potential vendors, and they are looking to have approximately 20 independent vendors year round.

“This is a permanent tenancy, so it is not a pop up. These are one-year leases with the option to renew,” she explains. “We’re trying to keep the rent low so smaller businesses will be able to have a place where they can have a hard retail space after COVID-19.”

Kofman explains she’d be lying if she said the pandemic hasn’t had an effect on their plans.

“This is a common space, and a group space, and of course there’s all of that uncertainty about when things will open up again,” she says.

What the pandemic did was cause Kofman and her team to have to “pivot” the design.

“The original design was more open concept… I’ve had to pivot it and make it more stall-like,” she says.

Kofman explains this means more perimeter bases, and spreading things out a little more.

The hope is to have the farmer’s market open sometime in the fall, she says.

“We will be on track from a construction perspective. The only thing that would delay us is if, at that time, the government says, ‘No, large groups can’t happen,’” she says.

However, she adds the market can also change course and allow 20 or 30 people in at a time if the need were to arise.

For vendors interested in applying for one of the final spots, Kofman says to contact her via email at alexis@bigrenoanddesign.com

She says the inquiry needs to include “what you do, who you are, why this market is of interest to you, and if are you able to make the one year commitment.”

They are looking for businesses that are able to provide services relating to a sustainable livelihood.

“Foods, florists, bakeries, all of those things are kind of our core components of our target audience,” she says.