The West Side Market: Renovations and Small Business Collide

As renovations are made to the West Side Market this spring, some businesses struggle to adjust to the changes.

Written by Alexander Giampietro 

As of January 2026, the West Side Market has undergone a renovation to their produce arcade. This marks the beginning of a long line of renovations coming to the long-standing monument that defines Ohio City. The West Side Market first opened in Cleveland in 1912 and has maintained the same building appearance and structure for over 100 years. In fall 2025, the city began renovations to the iconic architecture to modernize the equipment for business owners who call the West Side Market home.

It started with the newly named Key Bank Produce Arcade, which saw a major equipment update for produce vendors, including new refrigerators and revamped stalls to help make transactions more seamless.

This is only the beginning of the renovations to the West Side Market. Soon, the facility's basement will be renovated to increase cold storage for vendors in both the produce arcade and the market's main building.

For many vendors in the main building, especially those who sell raw meat and animal products, the basement is their lifeblood.

This begs the question: What will the coming months look like for vendors while their lifeline to keep produce and animal products fresh is completely cut off?

Mark and Minnie Zarefoss, owners of Jim’s Meats – a popular beef and pork vendor at the market – shared the city’s plan to allow business to continue while the basement undergoes renovations. 

“They plan to put a lot of us in trucks full of equipment. How it’s going to look, I have no idea,” Minnie said. Minnie outlined that these trucks are planned to house much of the equipment typically found at the vendor stands and in the basement, including refrigeration for produce stock. Unfortunately, this will hinder operations for many vendors as their cold storage will no longer be in the building but on a much smaller mobile truck. “All the vendors now have to come up with their own game plan on how they're going to stay open during renovations,” Minnie said. “It’s a shake up for sure, but it’ll hopefully be worth it.” For consumers, this may mean temporary closures or disruptions in vendor operations inside the main building. The situation appears to be in the hands of vendors themselves, leaving each to decide how they personally want to handle business during the renovations. 

On the other side of the produce arcade, renovations are taking place. As well as preparations for the upcoming basement renovation.

What is left now is a gutted arcade – all signs of the inevitable renovations, which include a new elevator, Minnie explained.

“They're adding an elevator from the basement to the produce arcade so that the vendors outside still have direct access to the equipment down there,” Minnie said. “They’ve already gutted the whole other side of the arcade.” 

Since renovations began last year, consumers and vendors have been concerned with the timeline of these renovations. “We were told that most of the changes will be done before the summer, most likely April, so the spring is going to be chaotic,” Minnie said.

While the preparatory notices outline planned changes to operations and infrastructure, vendors are expected to experience short-term disruptions before the renovations are completed.

The benefits of these changes include updated equipment and storage for all vendors at the market, which will allow small businesses to streamline their operations. With that comes a possibility of temporary closures and business disruptions in the coming months.

These will be the remainder of the renovations coming to the West Side Market, and there are no current plans to update the vendor floor. The priority is not to update the look or the feel of the market, but to make it easier for vendors to conduct their day-to-day operations. 

The future is looking bright for the market, despite the uncertainty for vendors and consumers throughout the next few months.

Minnie and Mark Zarefoss can be found at Jim’s Meats at stall E-7. They are open during regular market hours and also take private orders by phone with their company number located on the West Side Market website.

“In the end, we’re hoping the changes will be worth it, for everyone,” Minnie said.