Market upheaval: stallholders slam management

Concern is growing over the future of the Balmain Market amid souring relations between stall owners and management.

Established in 1977, the third-oldest market in Sydney now only has about six stalls in operation and has reduced drastically in size over the past two years. Balmain Market is run by the St Andrews Congregational Church in Balmain.

Stallholder Jacqui Schick said a lack of consultation between stallholders and management had seen sales plummet.

“The market has not been managed effectively over the past two years. There have been fewer market stalls,” she said.

“Now we have fewer and fewer people coming through the market. There is no consultation with the stall owners. We want the market to succeed so we can sell our goods.”

Karen Hutchinson, another vendor, said stallholders were treated like “inmates” at a prison ward. She took aim at the market’s management for increasing rent and for insufficient advertising.

“The first thing they did was to put up the rent, which [management] said was to be used for advertising,” she told the Inner West Independent. “The only advertising that was done was a flyer … supposedly delivered locally, which did not even say which day the market is on. Locals already know the market is here.

“New and old stallholders often say that [management] doesn’t answer his phone or return texts or messages when they’re requesting stalls until the night before market.

“We often wonder how many potential stallholders give up trying to book in. He treats stallholders, new and old, disrespectfully and  doesn’t seem to have made the connection that without us, there is no market.”

All goods sold at Balmain Market must be approved by management before trading is allowed to commence, and site fees are charged regardless of the volume of trade.

Stallholders must also adhere to a strict set of guidelines in order to sell their goods at the market each Saturday, including a requirement to sign a formal statement indicating they do not intend to sell counterfeit merchandise.

“[Management] fails to understand that we rent space from him,” Ms Schick said. “I’ve been there over 10 years. Winter is the best time for my products to sell, yet the last three times I’ve been there I’ve sold $35, $40 and $30.

“I’ve had to go to another market which is difficult for me as I am disabled and have no one to help me unpack and set up.

“However, in the three markets I have attended I’ve sold over $1,400, so I have to go.  Yet he tells anyone who listens ‘all markets are bad now there’s the global financial crisis’.”

92-year-old Rozelle resident Frances McDonald has attended Balmain Market regularly since the early 1980s and lamented the diminished quality of goods on offer.

“You were able to buy things there that you couldn’t buy anywhere else – flowers, homemade things and the jewellery that everyone made a focus,” she said.

“There was a great deal of second-hand clothing, all of which gave people a great deal of pleasure. All of this has been removed.”

Ms McDonald said the book stores and flower shops had disappeared in recent years.

“Somebody is playing clever devils and unnecessarily. The things that you don’t normally notice or wink at – small things like stallholders who had dogs who slept in small baskets in the back of their stall.

“Suddenly to the sorrow of the people who brought their very tiny little dogs, they were forbidden to do so. They were distraught and it meant they couldn’t come.”

The St Andrews Congregational Church in Balmain were contacted for comment but did not respond by deadline.