Audio by artist adam_schroeder

Two weeks ago Columbus officials said the Pearl Market's tents on the sidewalks of Broad Street and High Street were in violation of city code.

As the market scaled down to comply w/ the city, some venders were not able to stay. Here’s what Schroeder had to say about how that decision was made.

“ We looked at a number of different factors when deciding that--things like attendance; customer demand for the product; how that product may have been represented in the market in terms of the number of bakers, the number of bread venders, the number of jewelers. That kind of thing.

“We looked at sales history, how long they’d been participating in the market--following the rules. That kind of thing. We tried to limit the number of venders we needed to remove. In some cases we went to venders and said, ‘you used to be a two-day-a-week vender, but we can now only have you one day a week, either Tuesdays or Fridays, or nothing.’ And they were happy to have the spot that we were able to offer them.”

Schroeder also talked about the social, economic, and environmental importance of Pearl Market and other markets like it around Ohio and the rest of the nation.

Two weeks ago Columbus officials told Pearl Market the tents that have been set up Tuesdays and Fridays the past two years on the sidewalks of Gay St and Broad St were in violation of city code.

As management scaled down the size of the market to comply w/ the city, some venders were not able to stay. Here’s what Adam Schroeder said about how that decision was made.

“ We looked at a number of different factors when deciding that--things like attendance; customer demand for the product; how that product may have been represented in the market in terms of the number of bakers, the number of bread venders, the number of jewelers. That kind of thing.

“We looked at sales history, how long they’d been participating in the market, (how well they had been) following the rules. That kind of thing.

"We tried to limit the number of venders we needed to remove. In some cases we went to venders and said, ‘you used to be a two-day-a-week vender, but we can now only have you one day a week, either Tuesdays or Fridays, or nothing.’ And they were happy to have the spot that we were able to offer them.”

Schroeder said he expects city council to resolve the matter, enabling the venders who were let go to be able to return. He also talked about the economic, political, and environmental importance of Pearl Market and other markets like it around Ohio and the nation.