- FSU Market Wednesdays brings the variety of local businesses to campus for hundreds of potential new student customers each week.
- It brings dozens of local businesses to campus, even providing jobs for students at FSU.
- Watch now to hear see how crucial Market Wednesdays are for local vendors, even on slower days.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Bringing local business to campus.
I'm Alberto camargo in the College town neighborhood.
Florida State campus is always bustling with activity, but especially on Market Wednesdays.
I'm finding out how it impacts local vendors and why students appreciate it so much.
The variety of products at Market Wednesdays at FSU is impressive.
Just a few steps from handmade jewelry, you'll find clocks made of vinyl records.
Or maybe organic soaps.
How about flowers made of clay?
"You can bend these, you can twist them. They're all different colors. I only make one a kind so I don't make anything the same."
Bob Friedlander runs Italian Tile Creations.
He says Market Wednesdays are hard to predict when it comes to sales.
"I've done as much as a thousand dollars a day, I've done as little as 200 dollars a day. If I do a thousand dollars, that's a lot of business for 20 to 30 dollar items."
Just across from Bob, I met FSU alum Pauline Nash.
She runs Infinity Nook, which started by selling bracelets...
"Now we specialize and are best known for our oyster art."
Pauline says she enjoys the community of new customers she's made in FSU students.
It keeps her coming back despite several factors that affect sales.
"Weather affects it, holidays affect it. If it's finals, sometimes people want to do retail therapy, sometimes they don't want to do retail therapy. But yeah, it really depends on the week."
Over at Mabel's Boutique, Mabel Bruhn employs a couple of FSU students at her stand.
Freshman Kayla Parker says every little bit of money goes a long way.
"It's kind of hard to look for a job, especially if you don't have a lot of experience, depending on what your field is. So just being able to have a nice, convenient job on campus, meeting othe people, it's really helpful."
Market Wednesdays make a difference for both vendors and students, whether sales are high or low.
Friedlander says even the slower days have value in the long run.
"Down the road, they might have a birthday, they might have an anniversary, they might have a mother's birthday, and they remember me."
Market Wednesdays are open to the public, and, aside from Spring Break next month, continue throughout the semester.
In College Town, Alberto Camargo, ABC27.
