New ‘hipster’ green market to open in Berkeley

A new green market will open on June 12 in the parking lot at the Berkeley Adult School on San Pablo and Virginia. The founders of Beehive Market describe it as a “hipster green lifestyle market… celebrating all things cool about being a green localist”. Isaac Cronin, who founded Beehive with Julia Fry, says the goal is to be a regional, destination market, providing all sorts of locally sourced and made products, in addition to some more typical farmers’ market stalls. Cronin and Fry conceived the idea after being frustrated in an attempt to create pop-up stores for green products in empty storefronts on Shattuck. City officials had been encouraging, according to Cronin, but landlords were not interested. Councilmember Darryl Moore, however, approached the pair in January to see if they were interested in doing something similar in his West Berkeley district. The site at the Adult School was identified and Beehive is paying a market rate for the rental. Fry and Cronin secured seed funding from Give Something Back, the Oakland office supplies company that donates all profits to charitable causes. “We’re hoping to become a real event for Berkeley,” says Cronin, who has lived in Berkeley since the days […]