Newton’s Parks and Recreation Department did the right thing this month when a decision was made to exclude non-local bakers among the vendors at the new indoor winter farmers market at the Hyde Center.
Let me back up: I was excited when this new farmers market was first announced (in fact I was there when the idea first hatched) because, among other things, I’d believed this would be a boost for Newton Highlands’ merchants, who’ve suffered from a lack of foot traffic following the closing of Bakers’ Best and several cherished retailers.
It’s been tough few years for many of Newton’s bricks and mortar businesses anyway — including those on Lincoln and Walnut Street in the Highlands — who pay high property taxes and pay high Newton rents to be in our beloved villages.
So imagine how you might feel if someone who sold identical, or close to identical, products started selling them things right down the street?
If it was another bricks and mortar business, I’d say that’s fair competition. Get smart and find a way to succeed.
But what if it’s a farmers market vendor who bakes their products in their home far from Newton, with none of the overhead, high taxes, rent, payroll and even those pesky Newton health code and inspectors to worry about. No overhead. No workers comp. No cumbersome regulations. Just pay a few bucks to set up a table.
And this is all being underwritten with support and resources from your municipality (in this case Parks & Rec, which staffs our farmers markets) in an exempt from property taxes facility.
Not exactly fair to the bricks and mortar business is it?
Now perhaps you’re thinking right: But the farmer’s market is only open one afternoon a week, what the big deal?
Here’s what:
Margins are very thin for many business. One day of lost sales a week can be significant. It can be especially problematic if the day you’re competing against is an important one to your business, such as early release day for Newton elementary schools when parents often take their kids into your business for a baked snack. Or how about two days before Thanksgiving, where the number of baked deserts you sell that week can impact how well you end the year.
So that’s why I say, good for Parks and Rec for reaching this decision.
On a side note: Greg, from an outsiders perspective I think you’re doing an absolutely wonderful job advocating for the NNCC. Keep up the great work.
I have to disagree with you, Greg. The local establishment, Bread & Chocolate, does not sell loaves of bread. Lincoln St. Coffee does not sell loaves of bread. The indoor farmer’s market is open for 4 1/2 hours once per week. I went on Tuesday, and every person I spoke to was deeply disappointed that the market had no bread or pies for sale. The retail businesses in Newton Highlands cater to a different clientele than the farmer’s market. I frequent Bread & Chocolate with friends to share coffee, food, and conversation. That doesn’t help me bring home products for my family. I am a frequent customer of Lincoln Street Coffee. There are never any seats available, they are doing a booming business. The farmer’s market is is a great location at the Hyde Center and is accessible to the people living next door in supported housing. In the cold, icy winter, it would be such a benefit for them to have a place within a few yards of their residence to buy a loaf of bread or a bag of cookies. I hope the Park and Recs department thinks hard before making this a permanent decision.
That’s a great point, not a fan of MCAS. Until I read your post, I was in full agreement with Greg and Parks and Rec, but, if there is a void why not fill it with the Farmers Market?
Has nobody talked to Great Harvest Bread Co and gotten them to come down? Just up the street in Newtonville and they make very nice bread loaves. We love their honey whole wheat and try and get it whenever they have it in stock. There are bakeries that are local that make loaves, we don’t need far outside bakers coming in, they can go to Cambridge or Somerville or Boston, all of which have robust businesses that make good quality bread and a couple hours a week won’t hurt them too much. I know it is a fine line between offering diversity of products and supporting locals, but I think we can do both in this case. Lets get Great Harvest to the market and satisfy the need. And I agree with Parks and Rec, good decision.
Yes, that’s a great point “Not a fan of MCAS” only if it were true. Bread & Chocolate does sell bread!! And they do sell pies!! And they do sell bags of cookies!! And also as a resident of Newton Highlands, for you to say that “there are never any seats available” at any of the establishments is quite a stretch. I guarantee if you go in to any Newton Highland business at 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon it will be empty. You also mention the icy-cold winter days – what if on these days everyone decides to visit the nice-warm indoor market (where they can get things cheaper because there’s no overhead and nothing is given back to the community). Retailers are lucky to make 5% margin. If you take 1 day of sales away from them, they can be out of business. Right now you’re probably saying “whatever”. Lemme tell ya, if Baker’s Best, a Newton institution for 25 years can go out of business, this market, if not run with the interests of the neighborhood in mind, can cripple Newton Highlands.
Baker’s Best did not leave the Highlands due to lack of business or profit. Michael
Baker is still in business, only as a catering outfit. Landlords raise the rent very high, making it difficult to lease the empty stores. Hopefully, as soon as someone takes over the Baker’s Best location, things will get busier in the neighborhood again. Bread & Chocolate could also have a table at the Farmer’s Market.
I’m sorry that the comments have taken on an either/or perspective. The summer farmer markets are at Cold Springs Park and the VFW post. I am not aware of their crippling nearby businesses. The Farmers Market in the Highlands will bring more customers into the neighborhood who can frequent the existing businesses. I am not staying out of Lincoln Street Coffee or Bread & Chocolate because of the Farmer’s Market being open for 4 1/2 hours. I hope there is a solution that will make sense to the neighborhood businesses.
@MCAS: Exactly the point! The rents in Newton Highlands are outrageous. And our local businesses need all the support they can get to pay them.
And when was the last time you got a RECIEPT at a Farmer’s Market? And why aren’t those Farmer’s Market businesses paying taxes to the city of Newton for the damage and inconvenience they are causing our roads and neighborhood? Since when is a bakery a farmer? It’s not a Farmer’s Market – it’s a Food Flea Market. And I want to see some monitoring and taxes paid on all those cash sales. What a boondoogle.
@MCAS: Exactly what businesses are nearby those markets? The Newton Cemetery?
Bread and Chocolate DOES sell bread (and cookies and pies and cakes and cupcakes and SO much wonderful stuff- Eunice is a goddess :-). And the Walnut Street Market also sells bread (and if you haven’t checked it out, you should- it is a really terrific, quirky little shop). Unlike the summer markets, those businesses (and Lincoln Street Coffee) are within close walking distance of the farmers’ market so even those few hours of competition can cut into a statistically significant portion of their sales.
As for the idea that a farmers’ market should only sell fruits and vegetables, I am sorry but that is absurd. Farmers’ markets have a long tradition of selling products produced or made on farms or by small, local (in this case, no further away than Central MA) merchants who use locally grown and/or sourced ingredients. Many larger farmers’ markets throughout the area and the country even have crafts, prepared foods and entertainment. The farmers’ market as an entity is meant to not only provide fresh, locally-sourced foodstuffs to patrons but also is meant to be a community gathering place and an opportunity for craftspeople of all types to sell their wares to patrons they might not be able to reach otherwise.
By the way, I am speaking here not as the food writer at Newton Patch but more as the Social Media Manager for the Needham Farmers’ Market (which is closed for the season) and as one of the aforementioned patrons who is VERY happy to frequent both the Newton winter market and the nearby local businesses that sell baked goods.
This has been a really good discussion. I did want to address two things:
1. Let’s not forget that our Newton businesses have already invested in their facility, marketing, maintenance and onsite staff. Hiring additional staff or using existing employees to staff a farmers market to essentially compete with yourself doesn’t come without a cost. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be allowed to do so if they want, just that it’s not a casual decision.
2. I have this question for anyone who might be thinking ‘This won’t hurt them too badly’ or ‘They already have enough customers.’ Who are you to decide how many customers a business should be allowed to have or how much they should be entitled to prosper or grow? How would you feel if person totally unconnected to you told you, ‘You earn enough, you really could get by with less’ or ‘I’ve decided that it’s not a big deal if you take a 20 percent pay cut, work more hours and are not eligible to earn more.’
John on Central’s point sounded reasonable to me at first, but when I thought about it, Great Harvest had the opportunity (and still does with all the open storefronts) to serve the Highlands community. Bread & Chocolate is a few doors from Great Harvest in Newtonville and the made the decision to take the risk of opening another storefront to serve those customers. Why should another business, Newton-based or not, be allowed to come in with no overhead and compete. While the product might not be identical (Bread & Choc doesn’t sell honey whole wheat, but they have other breads) it is still competition. By comparison, how do you think Great Harvest would feel if they suddenly put a market in the Austin Street lot and allowed Clear Flour to set up a table and then take the money and run – as OM states, these merchants realistically aren’t paying their share to the city, much less giving any community service back. Does anyone know what these “farmers” pay by the way? Because not only are your taxpayer dollars subsidizing these businesses, they’re also paying for the city to advertise these markets. When’s the last time the city spent this much effort promoting local business. They stock the fairs with similar outside vendors that take the potential away from the neighborhood businesses. Restaurant Week – what a bust – the city says “we’re doing Restaurant Week” and then pretty much does nothing else to make it a success. But they’re bending over backwards to make sure this Market is a success.
A smart think for Newton to do would be to ask the neighbors and stores how they feel about it. Well, the smart thing would have been to ask them before putting in the market, but they should at least ask after a few weeks how they feel its going. I know after 1 week there were many complaints of not being able to find parking to shop in the square and vendors parking in handicapped spots at the Newton Housing Authority.
MCAS get real, while the catering arm is still operating, the Baker’s Best Cafe, a different busienss, DID close. Nobody closes while they’re doing well. Ask any of the merchants and I bet they’ll tell you they feel the loss from Baker’s Best. The next big question you then need to ask yourself, what happens to Newton Highlands if Baker’s Best stays empty for another year and Bread & Chocolate goes out. Like Stan and Greg said, times are tough and profits are thin, especially in the winter months. So is this a gamble anyone wants to take?
@Gretta, I think you hit on a central issue. We need to think that working with the community, before something is started, is always a good idea. I know it is hard to engage people with our busy schedules but in this case the business community was an easy target. My understanding is that Bread & Chocolate originally proposed that a farmers market come to the Highlands and I would have expected that they would have been tapped to help fill the market that was created. I am sure that they would have suggested complementary vendors and not competitors but would not be surprised if a baker doing something different would have been included.
I fully endorse Greg’s initial post particularly his call for a level playing field between regulated, taxpaying local businesses and outside businesses that come in without any tax or regulatory impediments. Being a member of the Newton highlands Neighborhood Area Council has made me more sensitive to the needs and concerns of small businesses in this and other villages. Many small businesses in Newton and elsewhere are operating right on the edge and the vitality and strength of each village is sharply diminished each time one of their storefront businesses is forced to close. We have been dealing with the loss of several storefront businesses in the Highlands, something that virtually other village in Newton has experienced since the sharp economic downturn began 5 years ago. Anything that puts unneeded pressure on these businesses should be a nonstarter and I’m pretty well convinced that the concerns of affected Highland businesses have legitimacy. .
The Cold Spring Farmers market is down the street from Whole Foods at Four Corners. The market carries many things that WF sells: meat, fish, baked goods, coffee, olive oil, ice cream, and of course many different kinds of produce. Does this ‘competition’ make WF suffer?
While I understand the argument about razor thin margins, one could make that exact same argument for farmers and local food folks. Small farming is not a high-profit enterprise in this society. Furthermore, a large, established bakery can obtain their raw materials at a bulk discount price, for example, where a home-based baker probably cannot.
In addition, places like Bread and Chocolate sell items like coffee based drinks with extremely high margins to offset other expenses and provides a different experience/ambiance for patrons. I have a hard time believing that allowing baked goods to be sold at the farmers market will have a significant impact on their business. If that’s a concern, why not collect some data? Allow baked goods at the market for the season and measure the effect on the Highland’s based businesses. It is just as likely that the market might bring in new shoppers who might stop in for a coffee and a treat as to steal loyal customers.
Newtonville can support both a Starbucks and an indie coffee shop (George Howells). By the logic here, might GH’s make a case about unfair competition because Starbucks is a chain and can carry less well-performing stores, where an indie has to make it with one?
And in terms of taxes, what happens when a Newton resident is shut out of the market because of fear of competition?
I hate to see the market be less than it could be because of fears, rather than information.
@LJ Cohen. The problem is not competition that involves a reasonably level playing field, It’s competition that pits local businesses that pay rent or property taxes to the city, provide benefits to employees and adhere to a wide variety of state and local regulations against a roving form of competition that does not pay these overhead costs. I see your point about Starbucks and Indie Coffee Shop, but at least both of these are full time businesses in the city with the costs and regulations this kind of arrangement entails.
@Bob Burke It’s true–it’s not a level playing field, but all the advantages don’t belong to the farmer’s market merchant. In a specific case I know about, we’re talking about an individual where those four hours of access to potential customers will spell the difference between a viable business (that isn’t well served elsewhere and ISN’T truly duplicated by any bakery in Newton Highlands) and a failed idea. In this case, this person has to follow Newton regulations (is a Newton resident), has gotten their kitchen certified, etc.
A larger, more permanent business concern has certain distinct overhead, but it also has a certain economy of scale that makes it a stronger competitor in the marketplace.
I just don’t understand why the summer markets are being run under different rules than the winter ones. That feels capricious to me.
Boy does this get complicated quickly, eh? There are a lot of conflicting objectives.
Without taking a position (yet) on the Parks & Rec decision, a few points:
* The city’s first obligation should be to residents — does an indoor farmers market meet an otherwise unmet need?
* I’m very suspicious of the rent’s-too-high explanation for low business vitality in a village — where is the market failure that is resulting in high rents in a low revenue district?
* Is this just about bakeries — what happens if a bricks and mortar produce store were to open in Newton Highlands?
* The city ought not to be in the business of dictating what goods a business sells. It’s not good in a Comm. Ave. wine store, in a Shaw’s, or in a Farmer’s Market.
* In the long view, foot traffic is good for the village. Cutting it to micromanage competition may have adverse effects.
* This points at the possible saving strategy for villages (apart from more density): small-scale grocers. See, Waban Market.
There was a small scale grocer in the Highlands some years ago, near where Christina’s restaurant is now.
Perhaps the discussion on this issue drove people away. I went to the indoor Farmer’s Market yesterday, it was poorly attended, and about 4 vendors didn’t show up.
I think Sean makes some good points, and I am going to add some points of my own (and let other people decide whether they are any good).
The announcement Greg linked to above says that the winter market is intended to increase the foot traffic in Newton Highlands. That seems like a worthy goal. Ever since Baker’s Best closed, foot traffic in the village center is down, and I never have trouble finding a parking space anymore. But the decision to limit those who can have booths seems, to me, to be at odds with that goal.
This reminds me a lot of the reaction to the special permit application for Panera in Newton Centre. The local businesses, particularly the restaurants, told us that this corporate, out-of-town competitor was going to drive all of them out of business and implored us to deny the special permit.
What actually happened, after we granted the special permit and Panera opened, is that Panera increased the foot traffic in Newton Centre and the added vitality provided an economic boost to every business in the village center. Even one of the most ardent opponents, a longtime restaurant owner, privately admitted that his business had actually improved after Panera opened.
So, with all due respect, this decision to eliminate competition from out-of-town bakers may be parochial and short-sighted, and maybe even self-defeating in the long run.
Food for thought (pun intended).