THUNDER BAY – The owners of Market Square, a business inside Port Arthur Station, are taking over the entire rail station with plans to turn the 141-year-old building into a new full-service marketplace at the marina.
Sharron McChristie, owner of Market Square, told Newswatch in an interview that her business currently houses products from over 30 local artisans.
“We've got painters, potters, jewelery artists, quite a few different things. Right now, I find we are getting requests continually for additional vendors to come in, so what we're doing is they bring it in, we sell it on behalf of them,” McChristie said.
She said that once Kuhl Interiors moves from their space, Market Square plans to put in a fresh food marketplace where vendors can sell fresh produce, dairy, eggs, and fresh meat.
On the second level of the building, McChristie would like to put a seating area where patrons can enjoy their lunch.
“We'll have like subs. I think coney dogs. A few different things. We're hoping to have a brewery as well upstairs so people can come in and purchase those things, be able to sit, enjoy the view, have their lunch,” McChristie said.
For the last 13 years, she has been operating McChristie’s Bath and Body.
During that time, she said it was difficult to find a good location to sell her products.
However, after moving into the Port Arthur Station this past winter, she realized the amount of space she had could be used to help other artisans.
“When I got this location and realized the size was so much bigger than what I was expecting. The first thing I wanted to do was help out other people who kind of struggled the same as I did. To be able to grow and to be able to have your stuff in multiple locations throughout Thunder Bay,” McChristie said.
“As soon as we knew it was gonna be at the marina, I wasn't gonna pass up the opportunity to be down here.”
When asked if her shop has seen a lot of of foot traffic since opening, she said she was “surprised by how busy it still was” despite the cold weather.
However, since the city pulled back on their paid parking restrictions and allowed four free hours at the Marina, McChristie said, “there's been a huge increase in just foot traffic and people coming back to the marina.”
“It's definitely made a very big impact. It was the Monday that they voted, so Tuesday was kind of quiet, but we heard a few people coming in and hearing about it, and then Wednesday, I posted a video online because it was instant right away,” McChristie said.
“The picnic tables were full of people eating their lunches. There were a lot of people walking around in the middle of the day. It was like instant. You could see it.”
Speaking with Mayor Ken Boshcoff about the revitalization of the north downtown core and the McChristie business venture at the Market Square, he said: “Since the past year and a half, a week does not go by that I don't open up a new business or go to some business that has decided to reinvest or reinvent itself and refurbish and recharge, and the fact is we're on the move. People are moving here, and so we just have to build more homes faster.”
