Farmers Market opening new indoor site downtown;
will offer fresh food daily

Farmers Market opening new indoor site downtown; will offer fresh food daily
By Tim Spitzack | Editor | October 2025

For the past two months the St. Paul Farmers Market has been busy refurbishing the former Black Dog Café space at 308 Prince St. E. to turn it into a year-round indoor market and country store. The project is a dream 20-plus years in the making and will result in fresh food sold daily in downtown St. Paul and economic opportunities for local vendors.

The board of directors of the St. Paul Growers Association, which operates the downtown St. Paul Farmers market and its 19 satellite locations, first created plans for an indoor market in the early 2000s but was unable to see them through. Now they are giving it another go. This summer, after learning of a favorable lease opportunity for the Black Dog space, they revived their former plans and approached 4 Access Partners for assistance with the project. That nonprofit was founded by retired General Mills executives Peter Erickson and John Mendesh and has experts from several corporate food companies who volunteer their time to work with entrepreneurs and organizations who want to take their operations to the next level. Volunteers assist in everything from employee training to helping find financing.

The market is located within the Northern Warehouse Building, which has 52 units of affordable live/work spaces for artists and their families, as well as an art gallery and other commercial spaces. It’s among the many housing properties in the growing downtown neighborhood of more than 10,000 residents – and the city has ambitious plans to eventually double that number. The market is welcome news for downtowners, who have been living in a food desert since the closure of the Lunds & Byerlys grocery store in March. Food deserts are areas where residents do not have easy access to a grocery store selling fresh produce, low-fat dairy, whole grains, meat and other non-processed foods. Studies conducted over the past 30 years show people living in food deserts are more likely to suffer from high rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity.

The 6,000-square-foot space is equally divided into two sections. The front area will feature 15-20 vendors selling locally grown produce, meat, dairy products and more. It will also host farmers market vendors each Saturday and Sunday during normal market hours – vendors will continue selling at the outdoor market year-round as well. Additionally, the space will have a deli serving hot food, soups and other items prepared daily, and live music and other special events such as cooking demonstrations will likely be added in the future.

The back half of the market features a commercial kitchen and food prep area that is available to anyone looking to expand their cottage-industry food service. All food prepared at the market may be sold commercially through retail stores and restaurants, while food prepared in a non-commercial kitchen cannot.

Roberto Galvan is particularly excited about the project. He has operated a stand at the downtown market for the past five years and consistently sells out of his homemade tortillas and tacos. He has worked in the food industry for the past 30 years and the kitchen will allow him to expand his business and pursue his dream of one day opening his own commercial kitchen and restaurant. Until now, he’s been preparing food from the kitchen in his West St. Paul home, and for a time leased commercial kitchen space in South St. Paul. He said the opening of the market allows him to consolidate operations into one location and grow his business without making a large upfront investment in equipment and space.

The market is scheduled to open in late October or early November and will be open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. A free parking lot is just a short distance away on Prince Street, near the Lafayette Bridge.

“We’ve had the space for about two months, and we’ve totally renovated everything,” said Farmers Market Director Jim Golden. “When this space came up for rent the board approved it and said, ‘let’s do it.’ We have a 5-year lease, with a 5-year option.” This project is far less expensive, he added, than the previous project which called for a full build-out of the first floor of the building at the corner of 5th and Wall streets, across from the outdoor market.

The Growers Association invested about $50,000 in renovations at the current site and is looking to raise additional funds for its continued operation. In March, the nonprofit Friends of the St. Paul Farmers Market was formed to facilitate fundraising for both the indoor and outdoor markets. Donations are accepted at stpaulfarmersmarket.com/donations and Friends of the St. Paul Farmers’ Market, 290 5th St. E., St. Paul, MN 55101.

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