Wednesday 18 November 2009

Is the Pier 'Farmgate' market dead?

Rumour has it around town, is that the Saturday market at the Pier is dead.

It only kicked off in April, and was billed as an attempt to provide a regular outlet for locally-grown food goods, direct from farmers and growers.

"I think everyone should know that at the Pier market place they are trying to kick out the stall holders as people aren't going there anymore," Tracey writes on the Word of Mouth forum. "A lot of people said it wouldn't last and it hasn't."

You can also head along to the Southern Markets, situated on the main road just before the Mount Sheridan shopping centre. It's on the left when you're heading into town, it's the old caravan sale yard.

"I can assure people the fruit and veg stall holders are in and ready by about 6am," says Wall Decals. "It really is worth a trip. Fantastic variety, great prices and friendly atmosphere. If you're heading out from town, continue to the Robert Road lights and do a u-turn to come back to the market entrance."

Rusty's between Grafton and Sheridan Streets still seems to attract a large following.

However some are rather scathing about the Pier's attempt to put in a market.

"It was obvious from the beginning this was a nonsense. The Pier should be an entertainment centre," says Jim McMahon. "One of the younger businessmen in town had proposed a Blue Note or a Billboard Cafe, both international brands, to the pier owners, however they refused and we got a stupid market instead."

Others say that they're not surprised that no one is going to the Pier markets anymore.

"We were really excited about the prospect of being able to buy local produce at realistic prices and support local producers," Flingwing writes. "We would drive down from Trinity Beach, spend a couple of hours and buy lunch at the Pier as well. That's not really the way it panned out though is it? I was there two weekends ago and wanted to buy some Pitaya, yellow dragonfruit. The stallholder tried, with a straight face, to charge me $5.80 for one small fruit."

"I get a smile, also supporting local producers and pay realistic prices."

She says she can buy Pitaya for $9/kg, around 80c each, from the weekend fruit stall opposite Caravonica State school.

Many say that Rusty's is not much better in pricing their fruit and veges these days.

"Try going to the grocery store first and take note of prices for bananas, apples then check out how much more you are paying at Rusty's. It might be an eye opener, it usually is for me," she says. "I still enjoy the Rusty's atmosphere but their prices are just greedy. Stallholders at Rusty's pay just over $20 for their stall, so their overheads aren't driving prices up."

7 comments:

Crank said...

Mike, this is hardly public interest. This is a beat-up to rival any tabloid rag. You slander The Cairns Post for its alleged irresponsible journalism yet you publish tripe like this.

"It was obvious from the beginning this was a nonsense. The Pier should be an entertainment centre," says Jim McMahon.

Who the fuck is Jim McMahon, and why should I care what he has to say about anything? Is he another crotchety Cairns "local" bleating to occupy his daylight hours? You'd think the Farmgate markets had stolen his family and left him homeless. Likewise your quoted "sources" including "Tracey", "Wall Decals" and, everyone's favourite credible source, "Flingwing" from Trinity Beach.

Go back to school, learn how to spell and construct basic sentences and quote some actual sources next time, rather than hashing together rubbish like this. Maybe Centre Management at The Pier would be a good place to start ...

Couple Living in the CBD said...

Mr. Crank

Centre ownership of "The Pier" are a couple kids in Sydney - daddy's company bought the centre for them to "run". The hotel's a treat, but of course that's run by hotel professionals. The rest of the Pier has careered from one "idea" to another, none of which panned out once the size was cut down. The Pier Tavern is run well, but the restaurant precinct suffers from overly-high prices and overly-boring food.

I agree with Jim McMahon who rightly points out the lack of "adult" (I don't mean stripper) entertainment in Cairns. The Pier had the possibility of being that location. Good nighttime parking and a beautiful location would be terrific for a real Jazz nightclub. Where do adults go for an entertaining evening without headbanger music? No where in this town, that's for sure.

But then a couple spoiled kids running daddy's investment from Sydney aren't going to take any guidance from the hillbillies up here now, are they?

Take a valium and chill out, Mr. Crank. Sorry Mr. McMahon's observations proved so correct. Maybe time someone tried some of his ideas.

Crank said...

Couple Living in the CBD, I think you've (both?) missed my point entirely. At no point did I disagree with anything raised in the post, but rather observed its total lack of balance or credibility.

Oliver Redlynch said...

Well, I was shopping there with visitors on Saturday morning and it seemed quite busy, and whilst some of the prices were high, it does provide a "niche" shopping experience for visitors and should be applauded as such. For the remainder of my fruit and veg .... I then went to Rusty's.

Only a small percentage of Cairn's locals (i.e. those with eclectic tastes and pockets to match) will shop there, the remainder will go to the duopoly or too Rusty's. But isn't that the whole point - choice?

I hope the Farm Market does't fail, it does bring some variety to the town.

(And I've known a number of businesses run by daddy's children that have done better under the kids! We have several in Cairns. So that's no reason to knock it.)

hieronymus bosch said...

The vege stalls at rustys should have to display a sign telling us where their produce comes from, as most of it's brought in from south.

Also, the southern markets look like being shuit down by council unfortunately.

Blogman's Blogger said...

Crank, and others of his ilk

You seem to miss the salient point that this is a blog. I suggest you read What’s a Blog

I quote "A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world"

enewoot said...

angry truck ddriver - shouldn't you be out on the roads terrorising motorists? You write worse crap than I do.