Julietta Market representatives are working with Revel Real Estate Consulting Group to find a new home for the market.
A dynamic public marketplace in the heart of the Bluegrass, Greyline’s 65,000-square-foot building has a storied history,” is the sentiment Greyline Station’s website has prominently posted on its home page.
That story has entered a new chapter recently, with the announcement that its largest tenant, Julietta Market, would not be renewing its three-year lease set to expire October 31, and is planning to relocate to a different location.
How the two entities continue to evolve post-exodus is still being ironed out, and we spoke with leaders of each to glean early indications of their plans.
The 23,000-square-foot Julietta Market launched in the fall of 2020 as a project of the now-defunct North Limestone Community Development Corporation. The market was conceived to offer a platform for local small business entrepreneurs, especially women and underrepresented minorities from the Lexington area, providing them with resources and affordable spaces to nurture their businesses.
Taking advantage of these opportunities, numerous vendors have established stalls and shops here, showcasing a diverse range of offerings from baked goods and popcorn to home décor and plants. Over the past three years, several vendors have utilized Julietta Market as a stepping stone towards launching their own brick-and-mortar shops.
Adina Tatum
Earlier this year, the nonprofit Northside Common Market assumed the lease for Julietta Market, with Adina Tatum as its executive director. Shortly after taking on this new role, Tatum engaged consulting group Project for Public Spaces to explore avenues for development, rebranding, refinement, and sustainability for the market.
Tatum noted that private organizations seldom operate public markets, and the current rent was deemed prohibitively high. “Public markets are typically owned by municipalities or nonprofit organizations,” she added, offering controlled or reduced rent along with lower vendor costs. “This played a pivotal role in our decision to relocate,” she said.
Greyline Station owner and developer Chad Needham affirmed that he did not attempt to influence the market’s departure. In response to financial concerns, he proposed a smaller space within Greyline at a reduced rate and with enhanced security and air conditioning, but that offer was rejected.
“Now we’re just parting ways, and they have their mission and vision that they want to accomplish and we wish them the best in that,” he said.
"Public markets are typically owned by municipalities or nonprofit organizations. This played a pivotal role in our decision to relocate." —Adina Tatum
Needham confirmed that several tenants, such as North Lime Coffee & Donuts, Old North Bar, Rise Up Pizza, Wyng Kyng, Social Vegan, Nourished Folks, Vintage Therapy, Community Lex Radio, and newcomers Darling wine bar and Bespoken Spirits, will continue to operate at Greyline Station.
He has also enlisted the expertise of Revel Real Estate Consulting Group, recognized for their work with marketplaces such as Fort Hill Market in Lynchburg, Grand Central Market in New York City, and Krog Street Market in Atlanta. Their collaboration with Greyline is set to commence in early August.
With that group’s input for fresh ideas, Needham said he intends for Greyline to be an exciting public market that will be open six days a week, with culinary experiences in a revamped food hall, entertainment, new retail, art, and opportunities for new small businesses to locate in a forward-thinking, inclusive and welcoming site.
He said he also anticipates continuing with popup events like block parties and the Night Market.
“I think that community engagement is important and that ability for smaller micro-entrepreneurs to be here creates a fun experience for the neighborhood or anyone visiting, and also gives them the opportunity to sell their wares,” Needham said.
Tatum said Julietta Market officials have decided to find another nonprofit to partner with or find a space it can manage alone, preferably somewhere in the downtown area with adjacent outdoor space that can be used to help with community engagement and visibility from nearby streets, which she said the current location lacks.
“That way people know what we’re doing and they’re curious, ‘Oh what is Julietta Market?’ and will stop in,” she said.
Tatum said for now, the name of the market will stay the same, though some rebranding may be on the horizon. The market’s mission remains to create an “entrepreneurial ecosystem” to remove barriers to success from marginalized communities.
Tatum said some current tenants are still deciding whether they’ll stay at Greyline Station or make the move with others to the forthcoming new Julietta Market location, which she hopes will be acquired and ready to reopen in early 2024.
One such vendor is Jamie Fairman, owner of Forage plant store.
“I think that overall that this decision for Julietta to move on and find a space more conducive to their operations is good for both them as well as Greyline as a whole,” she said. “Unfortunately, the two entities operate very differently, with most other Greyline tenants having consistent hours, while Julietta having very sporadic, inconsistent hours based on their offerings for their tenants.”
She said it was hard for customers to separate Julietta and Greyline as two separate entities, and unfortunately the market often felt “empty” during the week.
She foresees new life for each in going their separate ways.
“I feel that it is an opportunity to recapture those customers that felt discouraged and hopefully bring consistent traffic for all and have a very lively, consistent operation,” she said. “And I feel like Julietta will hopefully be able to find a location/space that is conducive for their operations and be able to thrive and have the autonomy they deserve, too.”
Tatum said one goal she has for the new location is to ensure that vendors have a good mix of items being sold without repeats or overlap from stall to stall. Another is to require consistent hours from business owners, and to screen prospective vendors for viability and soundness of business plan during the application process.
During this transitional phase, Tatum said she plans to use any cost savings to hire more staff to provide support for businesses in different phases of growth and development, and to not only offer business resources to members during their market affiliation, but afterward as well, when they’ve left to operate their own storefronts.
She’s also compiling a report about how, as market graduates go on to launch their own new enterprises in Lexington and surrounding communities, there are defined, notable economic development impacts, not just community development aspects.
Two years from now, Tatum hopes she will enter the new location of Julietta Market and see a dynamic space bustling with activity, while others now in the fold now may have moved on to their own standalone locations.
“I hope to see an engaged community,” she said. “I hope to see growth, I hope to see activity. I hope to see family, I hope to see families engaging. Just community, positivity, a positive reputation and support from the city. I hope to see people really stepping up and supporting our entrepreneurs and seeing how important it is to support the people we’re supporting.”