A guide to Upper West Market, Atlanta’s new indoor farmers market
Upper West Market is an indoor farmers market that opened in August in Atlanta’s Underwood Hills neighborhood with a variety of vendors offering fresh produce, local meat, pantry goods and homeware.
Ben Hautt, the developer and creator of the market, set out to repurpose this 1970s-era chicken processing plant into a bustling center of community and local goods, something styled after Pike Place Market in Seattle, he said.
The project took longer, and required much more work, than Hautt anticipated, he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But almost two years since it was first announced, it held a grand opening earlier this month with a starting lineup of local businesses and rotating farm stands.
Hautt previously worked on several other Atlanta developments, including Star Provisions and Lee + White. In 2024, he started his own company, Robles Partners, to embark on his vision of an indoor, year-round farmers market.
“I think to be a global city, you have to have a central market for people to come to,” Hautt said.
What is the Upper West Market?
Upper West Market is a year-round, indoor farmers market and event space, Hautt said. It’s open daily and houses rotating farm stands as well as permanent local businesses selling anything from chocolate to produce to meat.
The vendor makeup is meant to satisfy a local’s everyday needs while also offering a space for tourists and visitors to gain a sense of Georgia’s agricultural and culinary riches.
“One thing we kept telling ourselves is like, all right, I’m gonna have company over for dinner. How do I shop with that in mind, and what would I possibly need?” he said.
In addition to the permanent vendors located around the cavernous building, there is a kids’ reading corner with colorful seats and story times, multiple areas with cafe-style seating and, in the coming weeks, Hop City will open an attached cocktail and wine bar and Island Seafood will open a fresh oyster bar.
Some vendors offer premade meals and food items, but since Upper West Market is categorized as a grocery store, there is no hot food prepared on site, Hautt said. But attached to the building in a separate hallway, Bacchanalia chef Anne Quatrano has opened an all-day breakfast and lunch restaurant named Summerland where guests can enjoy full meals, baked goods and coffee.
Mikel Harris, the owner of homeware shop Pantry by Mikel, said the project interested him because it offers customers a place to consistently find the local produce and artisans they might typically seek out at temporary farmers markets.
“But I think the point of having it not only year-round but every day is really to provide the access,” Harris said. “I think this provides a space where you can come any time of the week and be able to get those ingredients.”
What can you find at Upper West Market?
There are 19 businesses currently open or opening soon at Upper West Market:
- Xocolatl: An Atlanta-based, small-batch chocolate company.
- Tiendita: A retail business from the team behind Poncey-Highland restaurant El Ponce, offering women- and Latin-owned brands with gifts, glassware, specialty snack foods and cookbooks. On weekends, it offers premade breakfast burritos and tamales from El Ponce as well as fresh Molino tortillas.
- White Oak Pastures: This family-run, regenerative farm based in Bluffton, Georgia, has a variety of fresh cuts of meat for sale.
- Garnish & Gather: A local meal kit business selling prepackaged meals, pantry goods and produce.
- Dips Kitchen: This stand offers a selection of dips like artichoke and burrata and hot “fried” chicken, as well as dip accouterments.
- Pantry by Mikel: Find artisan pantry supplies, tableware and other kitchen products.
- Ginger Yums: A company selling tea blends and fresh-pressed juice.
- Georgia Peach Truck: A mix of seasonal, Georgia-grown produce and pantry goods.
- Pet Wants: Pet food, treats and pet supplies.
- Noble Honey Company: Local and flavored honey.
- Prana Kitchens: Handmade spice blends rooted in Ayurvedic philosophy.
- 68th & Monroe: A skincare company offering natural products with an emphasis on local sourcing.
- Bellwood Coffee cart: An Atlanta-based cafe and roaster with beans, drip coffee and latte drinks.
- Honeysuckle Gelato: A local gelato company offering pints, gelato sandwiches and other treats.
- Woodland Wellness: Food and wellness-focused products like herbal elixirs, blends, tinctures, bone broths and ghee with an emphasis on Ayurvedic philosophy.
- Le Kiosque by Le Jardin Francais: A flower shop offering bouquets and plant items.
The following vendors are set to open within a matter of weeks, Hautt said:
- The Boiler Room by Hop City: A bar operated by Hop City that will specialize in wine and cocktails will be tucked away in a room adjacent to the main market. It will also run a kiosk to buy beer and wine.
- Island Seafood ATL: A fresh seafood market with fish and shellfish available for purchase as well as a raw oyster bar.
- Bodyrok: A Pilates-style exercise studio.
Upper West Market will also feature a collection of co-op stands that provide space for local growers and businesses to rent by the day. When Hautt started reaching out to Georgia growers about selling their produce seven days a week, the common response was that most businesses didn’t have enough product or enough staff to set up every day.
As a solution, Hautt made the co-op stands operate on a booking system that allows growers to reserve space on a daily basis. For example, on a recent weekday, one of the co-op spaces was occupied by Cultured Traditions, a small-batch fermented foods business.
“We’re getting a mix of all the really, really small farms that really can’t sustain a seven-day-a-week type of operation,” he said.
Where can you eat at Upper West Market?
While the market vendors can’t prepare food on site, visitors can grab coffee from Bellwood’s stand, bottled juices from Ginger Yums, some prepared foods from Tiendita and Garnish & Gather and snacks from Dips Kitchen and other vendors offering packaged food.
For a full meal, Summerland is Quatrano’s all-day breakfast and lunch restaurant.
The menu from Quatrano and executive chef Faye Poon highlights seasonal ingredients with offerings like cottage cheese pancakes with blueberry compote and crème fraîche; an English muffin with herb cream cheese, smoked salmon, pickled spinach, an egg and hollandaise; the Ploughman’s Lunch with rosemary ham, cheddar cheese, cornichon pickles, a soft-boiled farm egg and sourdough; and a chicken schnitzel with summer minestrone and herb butter.
For sweet selections, find a Georgia peanut and popcorn sundae and the Eton mess, a classic British dessert with meringue, berries and Chantilly cream.
A beverage menu includes wine, beer, cocktails, coffee, tea and juices.
Where to park at Upper West Market
There are two parking options at Upper West Market. Visitors can pay to park in the large main lot, or they can find free street parking in the surrounding area.
Paid parking has been a contentious point in Atlanta in the past, especially on the Westside.
Hautt said the intention of paid parking is to keep rent costs for vendors low — either equal to or less than the cost of setting up at other Atlanta-area farmers markets.
“We offer all the vendors subsidized rent, and then the way the property pays its mortgage and the like is through the parking,” he said.
His hope is that it will act as a “cascading effect” where the vendors don’t have to price their products as high since their rental costs are more affordable.
The first 15 minutes of parking is free, then the charges start at $2.95 for one hour and can range up to $10.45 for four hours.
Hautt said the model should be successful if Upper West Market attracts traffic similar to other grocery stores in the area. He estimated that the nearby Publix on Collier Road sees 30,000-40,000 visitors each month.
Rosa Thurnher, the owner of El Ponce and Tiendita, said the lower rent costs at Upper West Market created a lower barrier to entry, which is hard to find in Atlanta.
For Tiendita, customers who spend $25 or more at the business will be offered validation for one hour of free parking, Thurnher said, which is their way of encouraging folks to shop with them.
“I do think the model is with great intention,” Thurnher said.