There’s a certain old-world charm inherent to Columbus’s historic North Market. Located Downtown in a renovated warehouse that once stored farming equipment, the city’s last public market radiates an eclectic ambiance that has as much to do with its diverse patrons as the array of products offered by its 30-plus vendors.

Strolling through the aisles, shoppers can find a melting pot of specialty items: European-inspired breads, more than 600 types of wine and 200 kinds of beer, unique flavors of ice cream concocted with locally produced ingredients, fresh flowers, cheeses from around the globe, gourmet popcorn and authentic Vietnamese, Italian and Indian cuisine.

In operation since 1876, the North Market’s varied offerings and storied community presence have made it somewhat of an icon. Throughout its existence, the market has weathered its share of troubles, including a fire that burned down its first location and a post-World War II population shift to the suburbs that virtually emptied the market. But it has managed to rebound every time.

“I think we’re a really important part of the fabric of Downtown,” says David Wible, the North Market’s executive director. “As the mayor wants to continue to have the center city and Downtown be more attractive and interesting and vibrant, this is a real great community asset.”

The future of the North Market isn’t clear-cut, though. As consumer shopping trends change, its leaders must find ways to remain up-to-date and relevant. Soon, the market will institute a new brand identity, and millions of dollars will be spent on capital improvements.

The greatest challenge, however, will be competing with a growing number of specialty foods vendors. The North Market has always gone toe-to-toe with the likes of local staples Weiland’s Gourmet Market and the Hills Market. But a recent surge in demand for farmers’ markets—which are popping up all over the region—and an influx of big-name retailers mean more sellers than ever are courting the same shoppers.

“The North Market is facing a major increase in competition,” says retail analyst Chris Boring, president of Boulevard Strategies. That includes not only Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, but also grocery stores such as Kroger and Giant Eagle, which are expanding their organic and specialty food offerings. To further complicate matters, Giant Eagle may soon be moving in around the corner from the market.

But competition isn’t necessarily a bad thing. David K. O’Neil, a market consultant and senior associate with the nonprofit community-planning group Project for Public Spaces, says a crowded field could actually help the North Market’s viability. “One of the big tenets of a market is competition,” he says. “It’s good for the markets to have competition. You don’t want to sit on your game and think that everything is fine. It’s important to continue to innovate and to continue to try to do a better job.”

A Look Back

First established at 29 Spruce St., the North Market was the second public market opened by the city, preceded by the Central Market and followed by the East and West markets. But the four-market system didn’t last. Demolition, renovation and a fire claimed the other three markets, and in 1948, fire destroyed the North Market. When the city decided not to rebuild, merchants raised enough funds to reopen in a surplus World War II Quonset hut that sat on what is now the market’s parking lot.

Still, the North Market remained on rocky ground. Its popularity took a nosedive following a post-war population shift out of Downtown; another blow came with a temporary closure of High Street in the late 1970s. The market began operating on a month-to-month lease with the city, which owned the property where the hut sat. Many feared the market would be razed to make way for a parking lot for the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

A glimmer of hope emerged in 1988 with the formation of the North Market Development Authority (NMDA), a nonprofit established to run the market. Guided by Executive Director Nancy Duncan Porter, the NMDA negotiated a long-term lease with the city. Also at this time, public markets came back in vogue, and customers returned. However, the building began to deteriorate, literally bursting at the seams.

“The Quonset hut was in really bad shape. It didn’t meet health codes, it was a fire hazard. There were just a number of tremendous deficiencies in the physical plans,” recalls Duncan Porter, who is now a philanthropic advisor for Kenyon College. “Somebody could plug in something that required too much voltage and it would start a fire. We had problems with the insulation in the ceiling … and there was at least one occasion when a large … tile fell down. Miraculously no one was hurt, but we were very anxious about people’s safety.”

“There wasn’t any heating or air conditioning,” says Cheryl Smith, co-owner of Bluescreek Farm Meats, a vendor since 1993. “In the summertime, it was brutal. … Where we were located was right inside one of the doors, and we had so many people that would come in right to our corner and they would look at us and say, ‘Oh my gosh, how in the world do you breathe in here? How do you stand it? It’s so hot.’ And a lot of people would just leave.”

Because of the extreme temperatures, “I think there were, like, two months out of the year that it was really great to have flowers sit out inside there,” recalls Bob Mangia, co-owner of Market Blooms, a fresh flower vendor at the market since 1990.

It was clear something had to be done. Columbus City Council members, shoppers and neighborhood residents undertook a grassroots effort to find the market a permanent home. They located it at the former Advanced Thresher warehouse at 59 Spruce St., where the market still operates today. Under the leadership of then-Mayor Greg Lashutka (a well-known North Market fan), the city purchased the building from Nationwide for $1.2 million in 1992.

“Seeing a market that could be housed in a better facility certainly was something that was a passion of mine,” Lashutka says, “and I was pleased that we could help give it a proper home, far better than the Quonset hut.”

The NMDA raised almost $5 million through a capital campaign to refurbish the old warehouse. Local businesses and residents chipped in, as did Capitol South Community Urban Redevelopment Corp., which loaned the North Market $1 million for such improvements as new plumbing, windows and a roof, plus walk-in coolers and an upgraded electrical system.

The market moved into its third home in late 1995. Under a 20-year lease, the NMDA pays the city $1 per year for use of the building. “This took us to a completely different kind of professional operation and a better business environment for the merchants,” Duncan Porter says.

New Life

The North Market’s new home, at 40,000 square feet, was a whopping 60 percent larger than the Quonset hut. Plus, merchants and shoppers could now enjoy the comforts of a working HVAC system. Those weren’t the only changes, however. Merchants were required to be open six days a week, rather than the three days they had grown accustomed to. “It wasn’t a good experience for customers to come in and find places that were covered up with sheets,” explains Duncan Porter.

In 2000, another major shift occurred: Duncan Porter resigned. “I was ready for something new, and the market needed new leadership,” she says. That new leadership came in the form of Wible, a former Red Roof Inn marketing executive and self-proclaimed foodie.

Under Wible’s watchful eye, annual sales have been strong, reaching $8.5 million last year. Vendor interest has grown as well: In 1995, the market had 25 merchants; today, it boasts almost 35 and has a waitlist.

“I know David, and I think that he is doing a wonderful job,” says Paul Astleford, president and CEO of Experience Columbus. Astleford says his organization frequently takes meeting professionals and tour planners to the North Market, which he calls “America at its best.”

Lately, the market has been riding high as consumer trends have finally caught up to the products it has always offered. “I think they are just riding the whole wave of environmentalism and the move toward more natural and organic foods,” Boring says. “They were just a little ahead of their time, and now they’re kind of benefiting from those trends.”

Many vendors are perfectly positioned to capitalize on that mindset. At Bluescreek Farm Meats, for example, Smith and her husband, David, raise livestock on a 60-acre farm north of Marysville, feeding the animals a diet free of hormones and antibiotics. “I tell people that we have happy cows and happy lambs and happy goats and happy hogs, because we talk to them and we raise them right,” Smith says. “I think what we have to offer—us personally, plus the market as a whole—is growing in popularity. I think people are looking for fresh local stuff.”

The North Market also has seen a marked shift in the kind of consumer it’s attracting—specifically an increase in youn-ger shoppers. This change has spurred many merchants to offer more prepared foods. “It’s kind of nice to come by on your way home and pick up a whole chicken that’s ready, or pick up some steaks to grill with a bottle of wine and some bread,” says Michelle Chippas, president of the NMDA board and executive director of the Central Ohio chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Convenience is nice, but O’Neil cautions the North Market must be careful to avoid becoming a food court. “The long-term sustainability of the market is going to be based on food, and some markets kind of slip into a little too much of the lunch stuff. You’ve got to be very careful about managing the mix and preserving the fresh food,” he says. “If markets go too far in that direction, we see them getting into trouble.”

Nearby Competition

Wible doesn’t envision the North Market as a food court, but he does believe it competes against Downtown food courts, including one across High Street at the convention center. He says the market also competes against grocery and specialty food stores as well as restaurants, such as Chipotle, that emphasize fresh ingredients.

Back in 2005, the market nearly got some unwelcome competition from Whole Foods, which was slated for a Casto development at the northeast corner of Neil Avenue and Vine Street.

At the time, Boring performed a study (the $30,000 cost was funded by the NMDA, Casto and the city) to assess the potential economic impact. He found that Whole Foods would bring 85,000 new local customers per year. The tradeoff, however, was that the market initially would lose about 20 percent of its sales.

“Our major concern at the time was, you know, we compete for the very same shopper,” explains Wible. “So it would not, from our point of view, be sort of a complementary food shopping experience.”

The Whole Foods deal fell through, but now Continental Real Estate Companies is shopping the same property to Giant Eagle, which in mid-April applied for a liquor license with the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Liquor Control. Continental did not return C.E.O.’s calls for comment.

Wible says a Giant Eagle store would be more complementary to the North Market than Whole Foods. “You might use North Market to get really great choices of farm-grown produce, artisanal bread, cho-colates, free-range poultry, and then you might run down to the Giant Eagle to get your laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent and things of that nature,” he says.

Inevitably, some customers will abandon the market in favor of one-stop supermarket shopping. Chippas predicts they will be disappointed. “It’s the merchants, it’s the whole experience and the environment that bring people back to the North Market,” she says. “You don’t get that even at Whole Foods; you don’t get that going into Giant Eagle and buying produce out of the 5-foot-wide section they have to offer.”

Prices may be lower at a grocery store, but quality often is, too, says Doug Denny, co-owner of the Fish Guys, a longtime North Market vendor. “It’s tough for people to go to Kroger and then come here and see the price difference,” he says. “They just look at the price, and they don’t understand the quality difference.”

In order to remain competitive and up-to-date, the North Market will soon begin work on a series of building improvements. Columbus City Council allotted $250,000 for market renovations as part of its 2007 capital budget. According to Paul Ra-kosky, deputy director of the city’s department of finance and management, the funds will soon be used to revamp an antiquated hot water system.

Next on the to-do list is a $1.5 million to $2 million much-needed ventilation upgrade. Mangia explains: “When I go home, my clothes smell. … It would be nice to walk out of here and be able to go out to a bar somewhere and not smell like I just came back from the kitchen.”

Planning for the Future

If the North Market is to be successful in the long term, it must improve its marketing and visibility. “Dave and his staff, they do wonders on the shoestring budget they have for marketing and promotions,” Boring says. “But it’s just not enough, especially when you’re competing against all this competition.”

Other than a small contribution from the city—$23,000 in each of the last four years—the market is funded mainly by vendor lease fees, parking revenue and fundraising events, such as the North Market Apron Gala.

Out of the market’s $900,000 operating budget for 2008, Wible says about $100,000 is set aside for marketing, which includes everything from advertising events to hiring a face painter or balloon artist. “In the segment in which we compete … there is a lot of marketing/branding competition out there,” he says. “So we are continually challenged to be efficient and effective with the dollars that we spend.”

Last year, the North Market called on local branding agency Ologie for help. The firm conducted focus groups with merchants, customers and non-customers, and helped the market identify its audience segments. The resulting plan will be implemented later this year, Wible says: “I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but it’s a very merchant-focused campaign and promotional strategy.”

Wible hopes the campaign will demonstrate, in part, what the North Market means to the community. Not only does the market provide small business owners an opportunity for success (think Jeni Britton, who used the market to launch Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, which now has three stores, a fourth on the way, and a slew of culinary awards), but it also serves as a gathering place for residents. Plus, public markets boost nearby real estate values.

“Because it’s a place people want to be, other projects like to be near a public market,” Project for Public Spaces’ O’Neil says. “You see demand for other retail go up around markets. A lot of housing advertisements or apartment advertisements will say, ‘You’re in walking distance to the North Market,’ which is a big selling point.”

“It’s a center and a draw for people. You’ll hear people who maybe wouldn’t go Downtown unless it was for the North Market. It’s a destination,” says Amy Taylor, chief operating officer for Columbus Downtown Development Corp./Capitol South. “The more times we can have people have a positive experience Downtown, the better off the whole Downtown is.”

In the near future, the city of Columbus and the NMDA will sit down to renegotiate their lease, which expires in 2015. Rakosky says the new lease might require significantly more than $1 per year in rent in order to create a pool of money to fund future renovation costs. Wible says he’s looking forward to finalizing a lease because he wants Columbus’s last public market to remain in business for as long as possible.

“Through all of the competition and the comings and goings, we have been able to incrementally grow revenue here at the market. We’re not growing by leaps and bounds, but we are seeing kind of slow and steady and consistent growth,” Wible says. “It’s really encouraging and it’s a tribute to what our merchants are doing and what they offer, and the uniqueness of the marketplace.”

Amy Aldridge is an associate editor for Columbus C.E.O.