Think Like Pirates

The French Market

I am delighted to be collaborating with Concordia, Trepwise, Gilbert & Associates, and the French Market community of staff, vendors and shoppers to reimagine how to balance the interest of commerce and community beneath the sheds of the historic market. After all, it has provided safe haven for many of the world's cultures to coexist. 

The French Market's relationship with mass tourism is hardly unique. Just ask the team who leads the much-adored Pike Place Public Market in Seattle. Demographics change. Locations remain the same. How do you engineer authenticity? Do you subsidize or soon, does it become more of a museum than a market? One of the French Market's greatest assets is its community of flea market vendors. Visit the market. Close your eyes and listen to the languages and accents from all over the world. For centuries, a place of tolerance, the world is there. This is something to build on. 

Useful links:

Learn more about findings, future stakeholder engagement meetings, and next steps for the French Market.
Concordia
Gilbert & Associates
Trepwise