Thrive
Storm-displaced market will return to Tropicana Field
A popular St. Petersburg market that showcases underrepresented vendors will soon return home to Tropicana Field after a nearly five-month storm-induced hiatus.
Renee Edwards-Perry, founder of the Saturday Shoppes, told the Catalyst that she will once again transform the stadium’s sprawling parking lots into a vibrant festival in March. The event was one of several displaced when Hurricane Milton substantially damaged the Trop in October 2024.
Over 100 vendors rely on the Saturday Shoppes, which typically operates three or four times monthly, for critical revenue and exposure. Edwards-Perry eagerly anticipates a large turnout March 22 for a “Pets Day Out” event.
“I’m so grateful,” Edwards-Perry said. “Because when you’re scouting other spaces, nothing has the size, capacity and all the amenities we get from the Trop.”
Renee Edwards-Perry (left), founder of the Saturday Shoppes, with Mayor Ken Welch.
The Saturday Shoppes debuted in April 2021 at the Bethel Community Baptist Church. Edwards-Perry sought to provide an inclusive market, and the community’s response was overwhelmingly positive.
Edwards-Perry’s events quickly outgrew the church’s grounds, and she has long credited City Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders with helping secure the space it needed to thrive. Tampa Bay Rays president Brian Auld, at her behest, offered the Trop’s parking lots – free of charge – in June 2021.
Edwards-Perry noted the stadium provides portable restrooms, hand-washing stations and security personnel. While Pinellas Technical College hosted the Saturday Shoppes in November and December, vendors have gone without a centralized location downtown since September 2024.
“In the three years that we’ve been there, we’ve generated over a million dollars in economic impact to our community,” Edwards Perry said. “Brian (Auld) wanted us to get back to work so the vendors can continue making money.”
Auld, in a prepared statement, called it a privilege to support the Saturday Shoppes. He noted the partnership initiated by Figgs-Sanders “has been successful for launching many successful businesses.”
“Renee’s (Edwards-Perry) passion, energy and dedication have provided unique opportunities to underrepresented entrepreneurs and proved that great ideas and talent just need an outlet,” Auld added. “For the Rays to have helped catalyze these opportunities brings us all great pride.”
From left: City Councilmember Deborah Figgs-Sanders; Tampa Bay Rays president Brian Auld; Renee Edwards-Perry, founder of the Saturday Shoppes; and Nikki Gaskin-Capehart, president of the Pinellas County Urban League, celebrate the market’s new home at Tropicana Field in June 2021.
The Saturday Shoppes will utilize tree-lined Lot 1, accessible from 16th and 17th Streets South. Edwards-Perry will host her first event of 2025 in partnership with St. Pete PAWS, a city initiative that promotes pet-friendliness in homes, businesses and parks.
She said the event returning to the Trop amid ongoing debates surrounding stadium repairs highlights Auld and Mayor Ken Welch’s commitment to supporting the Saturday Shoppes. “And it shows how they’re dedicated to small business and economic impact, which is one of the mayor’s pillars,” Edwards-Perry added.
“I think it’s important for people to see after the storm, it took us a minute, but we’re back like we never left.”
She said ensuring small businesses have a home is “more important than anything in the world.” Edwards-Perry also believes the community will support the burgeoning entrepreneurs who have lost a critical revenue stream.
Back-to-back hurricanes canceled markets in St. Pete and Clearwater through October 2024. Edwards-Perry said business was slow in November as people focused on rebuilding.
She noted attendance “wasn’t great” in December when the Saturday Shoppes temporarily called Pinellas Technical College home. The market didn’t open in January, and Edwards-Perry will not organize a local event in February.
Edwards-Perry now hopes to soften the blow. She will follow her return to the Trop with a March 29 seafood festival and wants to “blow these two events out of the water.”
“No one just wants to be a pop-up shop vendor,” Edwards-Perry explained. “Everyone has the inspiration or goal to be bigger. So, if someone comes out and they buy your food and they like it, the opportunities continue to grow.”
Former boxing champion and St. Petersburg resident Ronald “Winky” Wright at the 2024 Pets Day Out event.
She said Mark Ferguson, owner of Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill, has used Saturday Shoppes’ food trucks to help accommodate large crowds at the restaurant. The Rays and other local organizations have also utilized vendors.
Edwards-Perry expects the events returning to the Trop will boost morale for residents who see the storm-damaged stadium as a daily reminder of hurricane impacts.
She challenges 1,000 supporters to attend the events and spend $20. “That would help a ton of people,” Edwards-Perry said. “A ton of people.”
She credited the Rays for believing in her mission and supporting small businesses. Edwards-Perry said Auld told her to “hurry up and come back” after team leadership worked through the logistics and realized they could still house the Saturday Shoppes.
She also thanked the Suncoast Credit Union for sponsoring the events and alleviating some of the financial pressure. “It’s expensive to come back and re-brand that we’re there,” Edwards-Perry said.
A crowd awaits a performance at an April 2024 Soul Fest event.
Mike
January 29, 2025at11:10 am
“Underrepresented vendors”
I have been long tortured with worry about barriers to entry for pedestrian markets. Thank god someone is doing the lords work and fighting this oppressive unfair and unjust system of vendor selection. We all have seen the pain across vendors whose dream was denied by systemic explicit prejudices ever present in these elitist modern caste systems. It’s nothing short of modern apartheid!