Street Market
The tradition of selling from market stalls goes back to the early days of retailing where traders could gather in one area to sell their wares.
Location
Street markets, or open-air markets, are common around the world and are
particularly popular in temperate or warm climates.
Regulation
In many countries, street trading has been increasingly regulated through history. In England, towns were given rights by the King or Queen of the day to hold a market. These charters specified the nature of the market and laid down the days
when
it could operate. Some towns had a permanent market while others were permitted to hold their market just one or two days in the week (or even less frequently). Many of these arrangements continue to this day.
Types of Street Market Retailer
Street market traders can be put into two categories, (i) those that sell goods opportunistically, taking advantages of low cost goods that come available, or environmental and other conditions that temporarily increase demand for particular products; (ii) those that regularly sell one product type to regular
customers.
Governance
The way that street markets are operated and governed vary. The following variations are possible, including a mix of some of them:
1. No formal governance.
Traders will simply share a space along a road (or an off-street area) and trade
as separate businesses. This type of arrangement has little or no bureaucracy
and can be very efficient for the traders. Often traders will not pay any rent
for their space (or "pitch"). Many traders will keep their pitch for
many years, even handing their "right" to this space from generation
to generation. Although it can be advantageous to the incumbent stall holders,
this can lead to a lowering of competition as new stall holders find it
difficult to come onto the market. Occasionally this informal arrangement can
lead to gangsterism and even violence between stall holders and with potential
stall holders. It could also give rise to protection rackets and other illegal
activity.
2. Council Run
Street markets are commonly run by local councils, who set the regulations and,
where appropriate charge rental fees. The regulations can range from informal
arrangements involving the allocation of street area only to very strict
regulations with an enforcement regime where traders may be inspected regularly
for health and safety and other legal requirements and may be restricted to
selling certain types of goods. As well as renting plots of land, some councils
may even rent the stalls themselves, which may be permanent fixtures on a street
(or off-street area).
3. Run by a Company
A company may own or rent a street (or an off-street area) and, in turn, rent
small plots of land to stallholders. They may also impose regulations in a
similar way that councils do. Some companies such as large retailers, may have a
street market on their forecourt or other area that they own. Good street
markets can attract many shoppers. A retailer may find that having a market
outside their bricks and mortar store may be good for their trade. They may
charge a low rent or no rent at all in order to encourage stall holders to trade
on their land and to keep their prices low, thereby attracting more customers.
They, may, however, restrict stall holders to selling goods that do not compete
with their own products, subject to competition laws that may exist in the
jurisdiction.
4. Run by a Co-operative (Co-op)
The stallholders themselves may own or rent the land on which their stalls are
trading. They may contribute towards the costs of maintaining or paying for the
site by each paying an amount of money. The amount paid may simply be
commensurate with the amount of stalls they own, or may be linked to the amount
of turnover they can achieve or may be negotiated on a
stallholder-by-stallholder basis. It is common for street trader co-ops to have
regulations that are binding on each member. Once again, these
regulations may range from a few informal rules to detailed and specific rules.
Many co-ops will operate a democratic system whereby they may elect a leader, or
a council (or both) to run the co-op, or may even vote on every decision.
Pros and Cons
The advantages of street market retailing are that it has relatively low overheads and allows flexibility. The disadvantages are that sales can be adversely affected in inclement weather and the stall (usually) needs to be set up each day, which can take a considerable amount of time and effort. There also needs to be an area for goods to be stored when the stall is not being used.
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