The Sloans Market

What: Small Market
For: A browse/wander
With: Alone
Site: Here

The Sloans Market shows up every weekend in Glasgow centre. It sits in a lane that connects Buchanan Street with Argyle Street, apparently the lane itself is unnamed, that or I simply couldn't find the name, because any sign it's on was obscured by stalls.

On the Buchanan Street end there tends to be people standing around with fliers, trying to tempt in passers-by. On the Argyle Street end there's usually a speaking blaring terrible music (think Abba, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, etc), presumably this is designed to drive people away again.

Perhaps they're aiming for some kind of pedestrian one-way system within the market, to stop people getting in each other's way. It's not a terrible idea, but I do wish they could find a way to do it without the music.

Yesterday I decided I'd stop by and have a quick look around, since I was in no rush to take care of my errands in the centre at that point.

The stalls are mostly clothing, jewelery and accessories. Standard market-style items like printed tea-shirts, bracelets, necklaces and earrings set with coloured glass, hand-bags (some of which really are rather cute, but slightly over-priced), scarves, etc etc. You can also find sweets, including some claiming to be home-made, cleaning products, preserves, books and the obligatory tarot reader.

The preserves looked like they could be really rather good, and if the handbags had been around £5 cheaper I would probably have picked one up. I did not have time to barter, and I'm not sure how much time anyone else would have had for me trying, given the small (and apparently therefore exclusive) size of the market itself.

I went once when they had a hot sandwich stall, and since that's the only stall at which I've ever parted with my hard-earned, that's the only one I can recommend. And I do recommend it, I was sad that it wasn't there again, if you do go, and hot sandwiches are available (I believe they were roast pork with apple sauce) try them. Especially if the weather's a bit nasty, as it often is, it's the kind of hearty fare that's well worth the cheap market price.

The size of Sloan's is probably it's main draw-back. The place is charming enough, but it's clear that there's no where for it to grow now, stalls already occupy every space they could. At first I was surprised that it managed to draw a crowd at all, considering that it's competing with the Barrowlands Market, which is also open Saturday and Sunday.

It does draw one though, to the extent that it can be a little difficult to walk around without bumping into people. Presumably the higher prices, more central location and exclusive nature are the reasons for this. It is a market, but not in the traditional sense - bartering would probably be wrong, the quality of the goods is generally high, and it's a much more prestigious scene.

I like The Sloans Market. It's busy, friendly, clean and I have no suspicions that any of the stalls are selling stolen goods. However, beyond sandwiches and sweets I can't see myself ever buying anything there. From this I deduce that it isn't aimed at students, which is a pity, because there's plenty of us in the city. The stalls seem to change a lot though, maybe some of them will notice us, and take advantage of the niche - then I'll buy things.