Canberra’s Old Bus Depot Markets will be back open from this Sunday 20th March 2022, with market organisers revealing they’ll be back refreshed, revitalised and excited to open their doors to the local community, stallholders and visitors to Canberra.
“We are so excited to be back, we’ve really missed welcoming Canberrans to Market every Sunday,” said Old Bus Depot Markets Manager, Richard Vagi.
The popular Markets have been closed since 15 March 2020, with the operators having faced two very challenging years.
“We were affected by smoke from the 19/20 summer bushfires, we then experienced hail damage to our roof, leading straight into the Covid-19 pandemic, then building contamination, followed by a second run of lockdowns and restrictions which delayed opening.
“Our valuable stallholders are ready to put that all behind them and join together with some new stallholders, to emerge with new and interesting products. The reaction from stallholders has been overwhelmingly positive as the Market serves as a way for many of these small local and regional businesses to make a living,” Richard said.
Visitors to Market can expect some changes when the Market reopens this Sunday. Richard says there will be fresh faces, and loads of fresh produce and artisan-made goods. There will be a good mix of new, along with some old favourites much-loved and missed by the Canberra community.
“New stallholders have applied and will join us at the Markets for the first time. It’s a real refresh with some new and interesting products ready to be unveiled,” Richard continued.
The space itself has also undergone some major renovations which will bring customers an improved Markets experience. In the time the building was closed, refurbishments included new toilet amenities on the upper and lower levels, a new roof on the lower hall, new lighting and a power upgrade. The building has also been returned to its former heritage state with the front of the building getting a fresh coat of paint in its original colours. And the Food Court area will also look a little different.
“We’re changing up our theme days throughout the year too – we’ll still have some of the more popular days including the Canberra Wool Expo in May, Creative Fibre and Makers Con, and visitors can keep up to date with new events to appear throughout the year. And we have revised our opening hours too, with the Markets now open 9.30am – 2.30pm Sundays.
“We just can’t wait to welcome everybody back and get the space really buzzing again,” Richard concluded.
Old Bus Depot Markets will be back from this Sunday 20 March, open 9.30am -2.30pm Sundays. For more information on the Old Bus Depot Markets www.obdm.com.au, and follow on Facebook and Instagram.
