A local farmers market is scrambling to find a new home in Santa Rosa this fall to make way for a new Oliver’s Market which plans to open next year.

The employee-owned Oliver’s Market in March announced it would open a new location in a former Rite-Aid store on Farmers Lane in Bennett Valley, where the Santa Rosa Community Farmers Market has been operating for six years on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Farmers market organizers say they are still seeking a new home amid peak shopping season, as Oliver’s prepares to rehabilitate the building to open in early 2027.

Sara Cummings, public and community relations coordinator for Oliver’s Market, said the grocer has been in communication with market organizers. “With the anticipated parking needs for our store, there is unfortunately no way to accommodate the bi-weekly market once we open.”

But Kelly Smith, head of Agricultural Community Events Farmers Markets for Marin and Sonoma counties, said the grocer has never had a formal meeting with her team to discuss relocation. The site property manager gave the market six months’ notice to relocate before Oliver’s Market begins construction on the new store in October, she said.

“We want to work with Oliver’s but have not been able to get a meeting with them; we will continue to try,” Smith said.

After several relocations. Smith said Farmers Lane has been an “ideal” location for the market in recent years.

“Currently, we lack a clear path for the market’s future,” Smith said. “We have been scouting locations and are in conversations with two locations, but we have nothing in writing at this point.”

Smith said her team is considering returning to the Sonoma County Veterans Memorial Building site. The market used to operate there after becoming separate from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, which left the site after a rent dispute.

The Santa Rosa Original Farmers Market operates year-round on Saturdays at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, and on Wednesdays from March to December. The organization also operates seasonal weekly farmers markets in Guerneville and Cloverdale.

Smith said the Santa Rosa Community Farmers’ Market briefly left the Veterans Memorial Building following the 2019 Glass Fire, and again due to operational changes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said she has been in touch about possible relocation back to that building with county reservations clerk Stephanie Goodwin, saying “We love working with them, it’s a great facility and has multiple uses.” The site was well-liked, being convenient for those living near Highway 12, nearby several residential areas.

Smith said it could cost $100 per hour to operate the market on 50% of the building lot. That would require raising vendor rates, which are currently $35 per 10×10 ft booth. She said she isn’t sure how much rates would be increased if that relocation moves forward.

Goodwin told The Press Democrat on July 27 the organizers have been in communication with her, but no decisions have been made.

She said when the market was there in the past, “It was a great event. The community really loved it.”

José Camacho, who alongside father and owner Napoleón Camacho runs Camacho Farms, said he hopes any relocation takes place later in the year. Any change to the market during peak season would affect customer attendance and significantly impact business for vendors, he said.

“It would be a big impact. That’s one of the biggest markets there is for Saturdays,” he said. “It would affect all of our sales.” Sales on Saturdays account for at least 30% of his farm’s profits, he said.

Camacho said their farm has been with the market for at least seven years, starting at the Memorial Building site.

Many longtime customers have been seeking answers about the next step, which he said he and the market cannot yet provide.

“A lot of the customers are definitely worried about it and they ask all the time about it,” he said. “There’s not really a lot of answers yet.”

Cummings did not immediately respond when contacted for comment about whether Oliver’s Market will formally meet with the market team.

Smith said whichever location is chosen, time is running out to secure new health, agriculture and potentially, city operation permits which take at least 30 days to get approved. “We’re really getting down to the wire.”

“If we can’t find a location for Wednesdays, then Wednesday (market) would cease to exist,” she added. “We don’t know we’re going where we’re going, but we’ll be OK.”

Staff Writer Natalie Hanson reports on business and agriculture for The Press Democrat. She can be reached at natalie.hanson@pressdemocrat.com or at 619-665-5887.