Four more vendors have been revealed for the newly expanded Essex Street Market, scheduled to open this coming September as part of the Essex Crossing project.
The city’s Economic Development Corp. announced the new merchants today. They include: Samesa, a contemporary Middle Eastern takeaway counter from sibling chefs Max and Eli Sussman; Josephine’s Feast!, a New York-based producer of artisanal jams and preserves; Saffron, a Fort Green-based florist; and Flower Power Herbs and Roots, a branch of the herbal apothecary shop located on East Ninth Street.
The market will be moving across the street from its current location to a new two-story space on the ground floor of 115 Delancey St. The 26 existing vendors will be joined by nine new operators. The EDC, which runs the market, previously announced the additions of Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, Essex Shambles (a Harlem-based butcher) and Zerza (a Moroccan restaurant previously located in the East Village).
A full-service version of Samesa opened a couple of years ago in Williamsburg. The restaurant and the Essex Market stall are patterned after the small falafel shops, halal trucks and Middle Eastern restaurants in Detroit. In a statement, the Sussman brothers said, “The long history of the original Essex Market on the LES, coupled with the community and social goals of the new market makes this a dream project for us to play a part in.”
Josephine’s Feast! was founded in 2009 by Laura O’Brien. From a commercial kitchen in Astoria, she makes an assortment of marmalades, fruit butters, chutneys, spice rubs and blends, natural sea salts, granola, heirloom cakes and gift collections. The Essex Market stall will be her first permanent retail location.
Saffron also opened in 2009. The store specializes in unique flower arrangements and also sells handmade good from local artists. Flower Power Herbs and Roots was opened in the East Village in 1993 by Lata Chettri-Kennedy. The store offers a wide range of dried herbs and extracts for cooking, medicinal and beauty uses.
The new Essex Street Market will triple in size when the move takes place. The new 36,000 square foot facility will include a demonstration kitchen and two full-service restaurants (they have not yet been announced). In today’s press release, the EDC noted that the, “the new market will also continue to provide affordable food products for the Lower East Side’s diverse communities.” [a long-standing agreement allows the vendors . to move to the new facility at their current rents.]
Earlier this month, the Essex market lost an existing vendor, Boubouki, which shut down as owner Rona Economou chose to move on to other opportunities in the food industry.
