Farmer's Markets Are So Over

Where we live the market has twice as many people, including well-dressed matrons who push to the front of the line and say "I want all of it!" Vendors who buy retail from other vendors who still have stock and resell at a higher price, because with the rich ladies moving in, price is irrelevant; what is important is to say "I bought it from a lovely farmer." Vendors who refuse to sell to rude and pushy people they have not seen before. A less satisfactory experience than it used to be.

Seth Godin says that the same thing is happening in New York:

"The market in my town is now twice as big as it was just last year. New vendors sell muffins, cookies, muffins, cheese, muffins, and yes, frozen risotto cakes in their own disposable plastic tray. Somewhere along the way, the farmer part got left behind.

This brings out tons of people, consumers who would rather buy a sandwich than a zucchini. It's the normal progression of things--from the edgy early adopter who seeks purity and novelty above all things, all the way through the early majority and then the mass market. As the market grows, it gets, by definition, more average. Until, as Yogi Berra says, "no one goes there, it's too crowded." more in ::Seth Godin