A few more words on the subject. I admit to a little personal bias here, but I'll try to keep it objective. And keep in mind that this is only my perception of the situation.
When the idea of the Regional Market was conceived, it was sold to the public as a modern step which would bring the distribution of food in the Rochester area into the 20th century. The idea was that it would replace the Public Market on Union Street, in downtown Rochester. This step has been taken successfully in many cities around the world, like New York, which moved, I think, to Hunts Point, London to the new Covent Garden in the suburbs, and so on. But Rochesterians loved the Public Market. No-one wanted to go way out to Jefferson Road for something that for years and years had been in their own back yard, so to speak. . Even the wholesalers didn't want to go to Jefferson Road, I think because it was more inconvenient for them, too. To sum it up, there was no public or business support for the Regional Market. It never fulfilled its promise to be a grand, modern, expansive facility, because people just weren't interested in using it. It foundered, a few wholesalers filled some of the space, like Louis Fishgold and Palmer Foods, but it became an anachronism on the local scene. It's still there, still waiting to be all it can be, albeit now without its rail access, and the city's Public Market just recently received a large infusion of cash to dress it up and improve it as people flock to it every weekend to buy from the hundreds of vendors who appear every week. (I admit, my wife and I are among those people every other Saturday, where at 6:30 in the morning, we buy meat and produce and fruit and eggs and often a lot of other stuff.) And wholesale meat and produce are still found in several different locations around the city.
So, in answer to your question, no, the business hasn't evaporated. It was never there. But there's still Lori's Natural Food and Palmer's Fish Market, both good reasons to turn in off Jefferson Road.
By the way, I was in the first RIT class to graduate from the new campus in 1970. (Probably one of the oldest students in the class!)
When the idea of the Regional Market was conceived, it was sold to the public as a modern step which would bring the distribution of food in the Rochester area into the 20th century. The idea was that it would replace the Public Market on Union Street, in downtown Rochester. This step has been taken successfully in many cities around the world, like New York, which moved, I think, to Hunts Point, London to the new Covent Garden in the suburbs, and so on. But Rochesterians loved the Public Market. No-one wanted to go way out to Jefferson Road for something that for years and years had been in their own back yard, so to speak. . Even the wholesalers didn't want to go to Jefferson Road, I think because it was more inconvenient for them, too. To sum it up, there was no public or business support for the Regional Market. It never fulfilled its promise to be a grand, modern, expansive facility, because people just weren't interested in using it. It foundered, a few wholesalers filled some of the space, like Louis Fishgold and Palmer Foods, but it became an anachronism on the local scene. It's still there, still waiting to be all it can be, albeit now without its rail access, and the city's Public Market just recently received a large infusion of cash to dress it up and improve it as people flock to it every weekend to buy from the hundreds of vendors who appear every week. (I admit, my wife and I are among those people every other Saturday, where at 6:30 in the morning, we buy meat and produce and fruit and eggs and often a lot of other stuff.) And wholesale meat and produce are still found in several different locations around the city.
So, in answer to your question, no, the business hasn't evaporated. It was never there. But there's still Lori's Natural Food and Palmer's Fish Market, both good reasons to turn in off Jefferson Road.
By the way, I was in the first RIT class to graduate from the new campus in 1970. (Probably one of the oldest students in the class!)
