2nd Street Market reveals decision on Sunday hours

Customers of the 2nd Street Market will be able to shop its vendors on Sundays again — although they’ll have to wait a while to do it.

Officials with Five Rivers MetroParks — which operates the 2nd Street Market at East Second and Webster streets in downtown Dayton — announced on the market's Facebook page that a trial run held this summer was successful, and as a result, they will bring back Sunday hours starting June 3, 2018, and will extend those expanded hours through Dec. 31, 2018. Hours will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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The announcement was widely praised by the market’s Facebook followers, although at least two questioned why it would take more than seven months to bring back the Sunday hours.

“We have to wait until June? Boo!” one commenter said.

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Trevor Hagedorn, business operations manager for Five Rivers MetroParks, said the expansion to Sunday hours will coincide with the return of the market’s outdoor farmers’ market in June. The delay, Hagedorn said, will give vendors time to gear up to add a fourth day of operations. The market is also open Thursday through Saturday year-round.

“We want to do it well,” he said.

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This Summer Sunday Trial Run was an overwhelming success with both vendors and customers, according to surveys taken by Five Rivers MetroParks officials. The response “exceeded our three key performance indicators related to attendance, customer satisfaction and vendor sales expectations,” Hagedorn said.

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Sundays drew an average of 1,592 visitors the the market, about 50 percent more than Friday’s average attendance of 1.083, and 84 percent higher than average Thursday attendance of 867. Saturdays remain the market’s busiest day, drawing an average attendance of 4,534.

Nine out of 10 vendors reported that Sundays were profitable, and 86 percent of vendors from the pilot program plan on being a Sunday vendor in the future, according to the MetroParks surveys.

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And when customers were asked, “What can we do to improve your Market experience?” the number one reply was to stay open regularly on Sundays.

For more information, check out the 2nd Street Market Facebook page.

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