Main Street Market, downtown’s public marketplace and home of the Red Stick Farmers Market every Saturday, will undergo a $1 million renovation starting in November.
The market, which has been operational for more than two decades, will be renovated with modern amenities including four new single-stall bathrooms, says Darlene Adams Rowland, executive director of the Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance, which manages the market.
“It’s in big need of renovation and repair,” Rowland says, adding that the project has been in the works for sometime.
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BREADA will continue to host and operate the farmer’s market outside of the building on Saturdays, along with other markets hosted during the week, while the Main Street Market facility is closed for approximately six to nine months.
Here is a look at where some of the businesses can be found during the renovation and what they have planned:
• Chef Celeste Bistro: This space will most likely not return to the market. The owner, Celeste Gill, will refocus her efforts around her two other locations—in the NeuroMedical Center at Perkins Rowe and downtown at 520 Spain. She will also focus on getting individual products like her low-sodium spice collection Senior Seasonings in more grocery stores.
• Red Stick Spice Company: Owner Anne Milneck is unsure whether she will return her gourmet grocery store to Main Street Market, and instead focus entirely on her flagship location on Jefferson Highway in Mid City. Milneck says she wanted to look for another space downtown but the cost was too high.
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• Southern Cofé: Owner Horatio Isadore is also unsure whether his hybrid coffee shop and café will return to Main Street Market, but “plans to return if they will have us.” Isadore says he will shift his focus to get more business to his other location, in Scotlandville.
• Freshjunkie: Owner Patrick Fellows does not expect to return to the market, instead choosing to focus on his other location in Southdowns. The healthy salad and wrap business will distance itself from downtown after being one of the inaugural businesses to sign a lease with Main Street Market when it opened. Fellows cites an increasingly expensive downtown as a primary reason for not returning.
This story originally appeared in an Oct. 5 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.