By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Artisans and makers have a new place to connect with buyers in the heart of downtown Bowling Green.
The Oak Grove Collective at 186 S. Main St. opened for its first market today (10-10-24). Located in the former site of Eden Fashion Boutique, the market will bring together items by 30 regional vendors for a weekend long shopping event. The market is open until 8 p.m. today and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The collective is the brainchild of Kati Thompson, who’d operated Eden for eight years, and jeweler Kala Barcus.
Barcus has sold her jewelry at Eden from the time it opened. Thompson was telling Barcus about her need for a change. With growing children and all their activities and a full-time job as the city’s economic development director for the city, she could no longer run the shop full time.
Barcus suggested the market model.
Oak Grove Collective will be open one weekend a month. The vendors will drop off their goods and Barcus and Thompson will create a different shop atmosphere for each market.
“You reset the store and curate a new experience so hopefully people want to come back and see what’s new,” Thompson said.
These type of markets have succeeded in other places, including in Columbus, Barcus said.
How people shop is changing, Barcus said. They shop less on a daily basis in boutiques.
Now they’re drawn to “event shopping,” she said.
“What if we can take the traffic of a month and drive it into three days and pack it out and sell it out then do it again but make it fresh,” she said.
The number of vendors involved differentiates Oak Grove from others. “We trying to pull in a lot of other vendors.” Most are within a 30-mile radius of Bowling Green.
The range of goods is broad including goat’s milk candles, jams and bread to spread it on, clothing, bath and body products, jewelry, housewares, and more.
This gives these markers and artisans another venue to sell their wares.
Business has been brisk on the first day. Carol Bolin stopped by in the afternoon . She owns Naturopathic Wellness on North Main Street and supports other local businesses.
“I really like the ambience,” she said. She was also impressed at the variety of merchandise for sale.
Bolin said she’s likely to return for future markets. “It’ll be interesting to see what they have each time.”
The next markets are scheduled for Nov. 7, 8, and 9 and Dec. 5, 6, and 7 p.m. open daily 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
