GRANTSVILLE — A new outdoor swap meet is set to launch on Sunday in Grantsville, and it’s expected to draw some of the vendors who operated at the now-defunct Redwood Swap Meet in West Valley City.
Some of the organizers were associated with the Redwood Swap Meet, but the Grantsville Marketplace, as it’s known, is a brand-new entity, according to Jose Luna, spokesman for the new operation. The swap meet at 512 Sheep Lane on the grounds of Burt Brothers Motorpark will open at 8 a.m. on Sunday, May 4, and run until 4 p.m. Plans are to hold the swap meet each Sunday, and organizers are thinking of expanding to Saturdays, as well, depending on public response.
The closure of Redwood last December came about because of plans to redevelop the land, a former drive-in theater, into housing. It was a blow for the vendors, many of whom are immigrants, and other smaller business operators dependent on the income. Cristian Gutierrez, who was involved in Redwood, said he has encouraged many of the Redwood vendors to take part in the Grantsville operation, expected to draw 200 or so sellers on Sunday and more going forward.
Meanwhile, Gutierrez is not involved in Grantsville Marketplace and said he’s scouting for possible swap meet sites closer to the Salt Lake City urban population area. The Redwood Swap Meet had hosted around 800 vendors, making it among the largest of the informal retail operations in the area, if not the biggest.
Swap meets are scattered around Salt Lake County and beyond, popular in part because they allow small vendors to operate with minimal overhead and offer consumers a wide range of goods in one location. Another swap meet has taken shape in the wake of Redwood’s closure: El Suami del 801 in Salt Lake City is also drawing from former Redwood operators.
“Not everyone can afford to set up their shops at strip malls due to risk, time or money. The swap meet gives them the opportunity to do this once (or twice) a week without having to invest as much time, money and risk,” Luna said in a message to KSL.com. He’s not aware of any outdoor swap meets in the area that match the size of Grantsville Marketplace but said he senses demand and interest from both vendors and the general public.
Entry to the Grantsville Marketplace will be $2 per person. “We will have a variety of vendors — food vendors, sweets/treats, fruits and vegetables, clothing, tools, arts and crafts, jerseys, miscellaneous things and much more. We will be having music of different genres every other week when able to,” Luna said.
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