Farmers' market is set to end at Sterling Mills
Ashleigh Burns • Published 2 Feb 2012 08:00
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Sterling Mills says offering sites free of charge for the farmers' market would not be fair on the other retailers.
TILLICOULTRY Farmers' Market looks to have reached an end after traders decided that the ground rent at Sterling Mills was not viable.
For two years the retail outlet village had waived the fee in a bid to help the market flourish and to keep stall holders attending.
Traditionally the market took place on the fourth Sunday of every month and recently attracted an average of six regular traders selling items such as confectionary, bakery goods, soap, fresh and cooked meats and dog biscuits.
However the stall holders have recently been told that a rental fee of £300 a month will now be required - something they say is not possible nor profitable.
Susan Fleming, of The Ochil Fudge Pantry, is one of the regular traders and stressed that the sum was too high for the business owners who are also required to hire their own stalls - she said it would make the location one of the most expensive places for stall holders in Central Scotland.
She explained, "The one thing that I would say is that Sterling Mills has been very good to us so far, and it's not the fact that we don't want to pay ground rent, but it has to be reasonable.
"It's not viable at this moment in time but I don't think Sterling Mills are being unfair by requesting something."
She added, "If they came back and said £20-£25 per stall and there was six of us then fine. Even if they did it on personal basis then it would be fine, taking into account that they don't provide the stall or erect it."
Another holder is Sue Peden of Erincroft Bakery, who said she was sad that her customers were now going to miss out.
She explained, "It's been a nice market, really lovely, and I have so many regulars. I have so many regulars and that's what I'm upset about.
"It's such a shame that our customers, and the Sterling Mills customers, are going to be let down and disappointed. And it's not that we don't want to be there - we absolutely do."
Paul Sutton, retail operations director at Sterling Mills, explained that to continue offering the site for free would not be fair to other retailers.
He said, "The Farmers' Market has been with us for two years and we do not charge them a thing currently - they pay nothing. One of their group provides the stall and he charges I think, the traders for their stalls, but we charge nothing.
"Basically the purpose of not charging originally, it was said that there was an incentive for them to grow the market and bring in more people so that, at sometime, we could charge rental if they had more stalls to cover it."
He went on to say that while the centre had grown through introducing retailers such as M&S and GAP the market hadn't gone in the same direction, although it would be benefiting from increased footfall, and he stressed that in every partnership each partner had to get something out of the deal.
With regards to the fee which had been requested he said that "all things in life are negotiable" and that if stall holders came in with a proposal, on the basis of developing the market, then it could be discussed.
He added, "I obviously want to stress that we are disappointed, that we have had a long relationship with them however, everything had not gone in the direction that we would like to see. We want them to have the opportunity to build a flourishing market and bring more stalls."
This article appeared in Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser 01 Feb 12
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