East Harlem Business Capital Corporation
2261-63 First Avenue
3rd Floor
Entrance at 357 East 116th Street
New York, NY 10035

Tel: 212.427.6590
Fax: 212.427.6537

More Information For:

Grant Makers

Investors

East Harlem Community Members

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Information for Potential Tenants

Ethnic Food Permanent Arts & Crafts Stores Farmers/Crafts Market

Bring Your Business to La Marqueta

EHBCC is continually working to identify additional tenants that will help create a vital, comprehensive and successful market experience. La Marqueta will have room for a wide variety of tenants, including large and small retailers, cafés, anchor restaurants, and a variety of small carts that will highlight East Harlem’s unique cultural history, its dynamic present, as well as its evolving future.

Ethnic Food

The focus of La Marqueta is on fresh food that is characteristic of El Barrio’s seven principal ethnic groups: Puerto-Rican, African-American, Mexican, Dominican, Latin-American, Italian and West-African. While the mix of food, both fresh and prepared, will not be exclusively limited to these seven types of cuisine, they are the base around which the food tenant mix is created. We will ensure that La Marqueta tenants will meet the existing and growing demand in East Harlem for venues to buy fresh foods such as meat, fish and produce, alongside a unique blend of ethnic foods, spices and other specialty items. La Marqueta will become THE place to buy all the necessary ingredients to prepare authentic dishes at home.

Prepared foods will also take an important role in La Marqueta. We are looking for vendors who, out of stalls or free standing carts, will offer roaming customers a chance to taste a bit of El Barrio. A variety of appetizers, desserts and drinks from Ecuador, Puerto Rico, West Africa, etc…, will be in high demand. From piraguas to empanadas, humintas to panuchos, ‘brazo de reina’ to patacones, kelewle to spiced fufu, and much more, no one should leave La Marqueta feeling hungry.

For customers looking for a more relaxed way to eat, La Marqueta is looking to offer a variety of sit-down restaurants. A Puerto-Rican restaurant, “Soul Food” restaurant, Italian restaurant, Mexican restaurant, Dominican restaurant and/or Ecuadorian restaurant are the main priorities.

Wherever possible, an element of visible food production is desirable as an attraction to customers.

La Marqueta will offer its customers a complete food shopping experience. In addition to those mentioned above, the following are the types of food vendors La Marqueta desires:

Cheese and Dairy Stall
“Farm” stall with variety of ethnic pickles, jams, nuts, preserves, sauces, etc.
Herbs, Spices and Hot Sauce stall – the place to get multiple ethnic cooking condiments
Natural/Organic Health Food store
Premium and organic produce
Tropical fruits and vegetables
Juice stall specializing in fresh tropical fruit drinks
Wine – many varieties
Coffee and Tea stall specializing in Puerto Rican premium coffee
Italian Bakery and Café
Fresh baked pie stall – pan, sweet potato pies, etc.
Hispanic Sweets shop
Homemade ice cream store
Deli/Butcher (including Hispanic specialty, Italian specialty, USDA approved onsite cutting, and Halal)
Poultry and eggs stall with affordable and organic varieties
Dumpling House – arepas (Venezuelan), humintas (Venezuelan), empenadillas (Puerto Rican), pierogi (Russian), catibias (Dominican), kreplach (Jewish), shu mai (Japanese), and aadun (Nigerian) could all be represented
Fish Store – prepared and fresh, affordable and premium
“Lechon Asado” – BBQ pig vendor with small sit-down service and to-go
“Tortilla Factory” – made to order tortillas for sit-down and take-away

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Permanent Arts and Crafts Stores

Public markets through the ages have effectively showcased the arts and culture of the communities they inhabit. A public market – by its very nature – is typically the place where one can take the pulse of the local cultural heritage. As such, the ethnic food focus of La Marqueta Internacional will be supplemented by a strong showing of galleries – places to buy crafts designed and made in their respective homelands and unique, well-designed two and three dimension works of art, not trinkets and t-shirts.

Possible gallery types include:

Handmade Caribbean Crafts Handmade wooden objects and furniture

Handmade African Crafts Made in East Harlem – local artists

Ethnic Hand-Woven Baskets Made in Puerto Rico/Hecho de Mano

Cut flowers and house plants Fair-trade gallery of international artisans

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Farmers/Crafts Market

Outdoor covered portico space with permanent tables, hose bibb, and electricity, will be available for approximately 16 “day-tables” rented (by the day) to farmers and craftspeople who grow or design and produce their own products.

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Bring Your Business to La Marqueta Internacional

The success of La Marqueta requires the involvement of business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs like you. La Marqueta promises to be a robust and thriving new center of commerce in East Harlem, making it an ideal location in which to invest the future of your business.

The tenant mix outlined above is not fixed in stone – it is a vision that can evolve and adjust with time. Whether you have a business (or a business idea) that fits exactly what is described above, or it is a different take on the same theme, or a new idea altogether, we want to hear about it!

If you are interested in relocating or expanding your current business to include a location in La Marqueta, or would like to start a new business, please don’t hesitate to contact us. For those who desire it, EHBCC has a number of services that can help get your business off the ground.

To take the next step towards putting your business in La Marqueta Internacional, contact us at 212-427-6590 or ehbcc@aol.com.

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