Vendors from the Haymarket Pushcart Association sell a wide variety of produce and fish at unbeatable prices every Friday and Saturday on Blackstone, Hanover, and North Streets in downtown Boston. The Haymarket pushcart market is adjacent to Parcel 9, the proposed site of the Boston Museum.

The Museum's plans for our ground floor include dedicated space to meet the storage and waste disposal needs of the pushcart vendors. The rest of the ground floor will be used for the new Boston Community Marketplace. This seven-day-a-week market will have vendors from Boston's diverse ethnic communities selling grocery staples and other packaged foods, fresh foods, and traditional ready-to-eat items. The Marketplace won't compete with the Haymarket pushcart vendors or with nearby ethnic groceries (whether in the North End, Chinatown, or on the opposite side of Blackstone Street), but will instead offer food not now available in downtown Boston.

The range of vendors represented in the Marketplace will include long-established immigrants (e.g., Irish, Portuguese) as well as more recent arrivals (e.g., Brazilians, Indians, Cambodians). The market stalls will be operated by these community members. Market activity and Museum exhibitions will complement one another around important narratives such as immigration. The Marketplace will allow Boston to join cities around the world with thriving, diverse public markets.