A central Geelong market has the potential to bring our CBD to life by showcasing the best fresh produce, beverages and boutique wares our city has to offer.
Which is why the City of Greater Geelong is exploring options for a regular market that could drive visitation to our CBD, much like Hobart’s famed Salamanca Market.
Established in 1972, the Salamanca Market has evolved over half a century to become a vibrant, colourful local institution featuring 300 stallholders offering a huge variety of locally made products.
Visitors can meet the artisans, designers and producers behind these unique items, creating further opportunities for stallholders to market their products and services.
The Salamanca Market is Tasmania’s most visited tourism attraction, according to the City of Hobart, and draws shoppers from interstate and overseas.
As mayor, I envisage a central Geelong market which, like Salamanca, could become a regional and even an international drawcard for our city.
And Geelong has the credentials for this to be successful.
Food and beverage generated $1.2 billion in revenue for Greater Geelong in 2022, up 36 per cent since 2018.
During the same period, food and beverage manufacture jobs in Greater Geelong increased by 18 per cent to more than 2400, and the sector is the largest contributor to the local manufacturing industry for jobs and output.
So there’s no shortage of traders that could benefit from a regular central Geelong market.
The market would provide a valuable pop-up shopfront for our producers, boutique distillers and creatives and makers seeking to market their wares.
The unique market experience would also bolster foot traffic in our CBD, increasing business for local traders and attracting people to nearby restaurants, eateries and bars.
But initiatives like these don’t just happen – they require extensive research, analysis and planning to reach their full potential.
Several locations are being considered, with my preferred location being Little Malop Street West to revitalise the Market Square precinct.
My vision is for a weekly Saturday market in the mall, with the option of a night market.
And council officers are exploring several other important questions – like who should operate the market.
Council? A private operator? Should it be a community-driven initiative? Or perhaps there is potential for a public-private partnership or hybrid model.
Central Geelong already hosts a handful of popular yearly, quarterly and monthly community and private-run markets, which demonstrates an appetite for a more regular market in our CBD.
I look forward to working with Council to create a unique ‘Geelong experience’ – a market that markets our region to the world.
