Farmers Market Brings Produce and Business to Shopping Center

When the owners of the Agoura Hills City Mall first told tenants that they wanted to host a farmers market at the Kanan shopping center the owners of Agoura's Famous Deli were skeptical.

But when the Sunday market opened in August, the deli's business immediately shot up by as much as 40 percent. Sunday afternoon seatings, which had once fit on a single page, were overflowing onto two.  

Business has since leveled off, but is still up about 10 percent from pre-market days. Marshall Lambert, the deli's general manager, has developed an appreciation for his weekly neighbors.

"It's been nice, people stopping in before setting up," Lambert said. "It's vendors, not just customers." 

Mall co-owners Monty Morton and Martin Greene came up with the farmers market idea as a way to bolster flagging business for their tenants.  Morton approached the City Council in 2008, where he was told zoning law would have to be rewritten.  Morton was determined to find an alternative.  He recalled saying at the time, "There has to be a way."

City Manager Greg Ramirez helped Morton to find an administrative solution to a time-consuming complete zoning change: a city-initiated amendment to city zoning laws which would permit vendors on the shopping center grounds. It then went to the Planning Commission, which approved it.

Ramirez was motivated by what he saw as an excellent opportunity for a public-private partnership.  After analyzing parking needs and considering tenants' concerns, he decided to support the amendment.  "I respected the tenants' concerns but through past experience, I knew that bringing additional people to the center at a non-peak time would benefit it in the short and long term.  We have received very positive feedback that confirms that as well."

On a recent Sunday, shoppers filled their bags with produce and perused the pottery and clothing on display. Kids scored samples of strawberries and nuts while trailing after their parents. 

Jamie Champion, an Agoura Hills resident, has been shopping at the market since it opened. "I never miss it," she said. Champion said she values both the quality of the produce and the market's welcoming nature. "The vendors remember you. Sometimes they set stuff aside for me, and it's ready when I get here."

The Agoura market is competing with weekly ones in Oak Park, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Ventura, Oxnard, Moorpark and Calabasas. Westlake Village is the only nearby market that's also held Sundays.

The vendors say that loyal customers such as Champion, plus steadily increasing foot traffic, make them optimistic that business will improve. 

Zac Godlove of Tutti Frutti Farms sells only about a quarter of the produce at the Kanan Road market that he does at a farmer's market in Burbank but said Agoura is worth the long drive from the farms' Buellton location north of Santa Barbara.

The Agoura market makes up in friendliness what it lacks in commerce, Godlove said. Shoppers often run into friends and acquaintances as they make the market's rounds.

"It's kind of an event," he said, "not really to get their groceries."

That festive mood spreads to the mall's merchants. At Kanan Beauty Supply, workers said that Sunday customers are upbeat and interested in chatting about products.

For Morton, the success of the market is heartening. "We are very proactive," he said. "We try to do everything we can to assist the tenants."