Greensboro Farmers Curb Market shifts weekday hours to Tuesday evenings

Fresh produce, seafood and baked goods at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market are now timed for the after-work rush, not the Wednesday morning crowd.

The year-round, producer-only market moved its weekday hours to Tuesdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. beginning April 14, while Saturday hours stayed 8 a.m. to noon. At 501 Yanceyville St., on the corner of Yanceyville and Lindsay streets just east of downtown and across from War Memorial Baseball Stadium, the change puts one of Greensboro’s best-known local food destinations within reach of working parents, commuters and shift workers who could not get there midmorning.

Interim Executive Director Erin Stratford Owens said the goal was to make fresh, local food more accessible to people who cannot shop during a weekday morning, while preserving the customer and vendor relationships that have made the market part of Greensboro’s food culture for generations. That matters at a market with 168 vendor tables and about 100 vendors, where a shift in hours changes when many shoppers can buy produce, meats, dairy, artisanal foods and crafts.

For vendors, the new schedule is more than a calendar tweak. Smith Century Farms NC Fresh Seafood is one of the stalls expected to benefit from the evening crowd, along with Carolina Carmel Company. George Smith has described his seafood as arriving so fresh that it was still in the ocean the previous Thursday, while Michael Allamon has pointed to local sourcing, including flour from an old mill and dairy ingredients from nearby farms. The later hours give those sellers a better shot at reaching shoppers who leave work after 5 p.m. and still want dinner ingredients from local producers.

The move also carries weight in East Greensboro, where access to fresh food has long been a concern. UNC Greensboro research identified 17 food deserts in Greensboro and 24 in Guilford County, and the market has said it is committed to supporting households and working with public agencies on food insecurity. For families trying to stretch a weeknight meal budget, a Tuesday evening market can function less like a special outing and more like a practical stop for vegetables, seafood, dairy and prepared foods.

That broader relevance helps explain why the market keeps adapting. Its roots date to 1874, and a 2017 city release said it drew more than 125,000 visitors the previous year. Operated by Greensboro Farmers Market, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, on behalf of the City of Greensboro, the market is betting that a familiar institution can stay strong by matching modern work patterns instead of expecting customers to fit an older schedule.