In June 2021, Kayti and Kevin Robbins launched Pensacola Community Market in the parking lot of Bonefish Grill, attracting 16 vendors that were friends or others whom they had met at other markets. Their idea caught on, and the Robbins moved it to Washington High School and La Hacienda Mexican Restaurant on North Davis Highway, adding more vendors each time.
Then, they got a big break when the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce approached them about joining the chamber and moving the market to a lot next to their offices in the Pensacola State College building on West Garden Street.
The Robbins were excited about being close to the Palafox Market. The Pensacola Community Market opened downtown in November 2021, and the Chamber held a ribbon-cutting in January of this year. And the market blossomed.
“We averaged probably 65 to 75 vendors a time that we were down there,” Kevin Robbins said. “We had people wanting to come and ended up creating a website and an application process.”
Only there was one problem. The Chamber was renting land they didn’t own or have permission to rent.
When Robbins wanted to modify the site, they were told to talk with Pensacola State College, who was surprised to learn the market was using the land. The couple explained to PSC President Dr. Ed Meadows, “We were actually reached out to by the Chamber of Commerce and asked if we wanted to use the space. And we were told that they managed the property and everything like that, and we could do it by joining them.”
Meadows told them that wasn’t the case, and the Robbins received a cease-and-desist notice. From May 7 to Sept. 2, the Robbins moved their market to several locations until they finally shut it down on Labor Day weekend.
“It was all about helping businesses grow and being a part of that,” said Robbins. And just because of the situations that happened, we just felt like we could no longer do that to the capacity that we knew we were capable of.”
The couple decided to take a step back and reevaluate everything, but Robbins didn’t rule out returning if they found the right spot for the Pensacola Community Market.
Inweekly reached to Chamber CEO Todd Thomson and Dr. Meadows. Thomson said the chamber had permission to rent the space for the market, but problems arose when the Robbins asked for the changes to the site. The rent was minimal.
Dr. Meadows said when he found out about the arrangement, he needed to cancel the deal because of the college’s policy against allowing for-profit organizations to use its property on a regular basis.
Here is my interview with Kevin Robbins:
