According to a recent thread on Chowhound, one of the more popular vendors in the Ferry Plaza, Fitzgerald’s, will not return this year. Fitzgerald’s is the second relatively high-profile vendor to call it quits at the Ferry Plaza this year (the first being Mariquita Farms). A well-informed hound had this information to share:
Fitz emailed me today to report his decision not to come back to Ferry Plaza this year. He says his sales have dropped steadily and severely over the four years (2003-2006 inclusive) since the move from Green Street to Ferry Plaza; he blames the influx of tourists, crowding out actual customers (the tourists look but buy little or nothing) in the market and making parking, never easy, next to impossible. He’s on the CUESA board so his explanation carries weight; right or wrong, the sales figures don’t lie, and he (along with Mariquita Farm) is packing it in. Is the Ferry market headed toward becoming a bogus tourist attraction, “market-land,” with a few upscale shops (the wine place, Recchiuti) but fewer and fewer actual growers selling actual food to local customers? I sure hope not.
Now, another poster soon responded and pointed out that the areas vacated by the likes of Fitzgerald’s and Mariquita are reserved for market ingredients (i.e., farmers), rather than “upscale shops.” Nonetheless, there’s no debating that the Ferry Building has become one of the city’s foremost tourist destinations. What will be the fate of the Ferry Building? Will it degenerate into Fisherman’s Wharf or will it resist the dark side and maintain its essence?
Ferry Plaza - So long, Fitzgerald [Chowhound]
