Online Tool Store
· 4 min read
How to Allocate Stalls Across Market Dates
Heshan Fernando
Co-founder & COO
Two bakers side by side both take less than either would have taken apart. The customer buying bread buys it once, and the second baker has spent the day watching them walk past.
Stall allocation looks like a filing problem and behaves like a design problem, because where a stall sits changes what it earns.
Spread competing categories
Same-category neighbours compete for the same purchase at the same moment. The customer makes one bread decision, and proximity does not create a second one.
Separating them helps both. It also serves the market as a whole, because a shopper wanting bread, cheese and vegetables has to walk the length of it — which puts them past every other stall on the way.
That walking is the point. A market where everything a shopper wants is in the first six stalls is a market where two thirds of the vendors see nobody.
| Layout | Effect |
|---|---|
| Two bakers adjacent | Both take less |
| Bakers at opposite ends | Both take more, shoppers walk further |
| All produce in one block | Rest of the market sees less footfall |
| Categories interleaved | Even footfall |
Prime pitches are worth real money
Not all pitches are equal, and everyone knows which are which.
Near the entrance catches shoppers with full wallets and empty bags, before they have spent their budget.
Corners get two directions of approach.
Beside anchors — a coffee stall, a popular butcher — benefit from a queue standing next to them.
The far end of a single row is the worst position in any market, and vendors placed there consistently take less.
Which raises the fairness question. Two approaches, both defensible:
Fixed pitches let regulars build a following. Customers know where to find them, which is worth a lot to an established vendor and is the main argument for stability.
Rotating the prime positions while keeping the rest stable is the usual compromise. The entrance corner rotates monthly; the vendor in the middle of the row stays put.
Plan for cancellations
Someone drops out every market. What matters is what happens to the space.
A gap in the middle of a row breaks the flow — shoppers treat it as the end of the market and turn back, which costs every stall beyond it. That is a much larger cost than the missing pitch fee.
Two practical responses: keep a short reserve list of vendors who can fill in at short notice, and have a plan for closing up the row physically if nobody can. Moving three stalls along to close a gap is fifteen minutes of work that protects the whole row.
A cancellation policy with a deadline after which the fee is still owed is what makes late cancellations rare enough to manage.
Publish the layout in advance
Vendors plan their day around where they are, and a layout published on the morning is a layout nobody can prepare for.
A stall near the entrance wants more stock and more change. One at the far end may want a different display to draw people down. A vendor next to a coffee stall knows to expect a queue beside them.
Publishing a week ahead lets vendors make those adjustments, and it also surfaces problems while they are still fixable — a vendor who cannot be next to a competitor for a good reason, or a pitch that does not suit their setup.
It costs nothing and it removes most of the morning-of negotiation that otherwise happens while everyone is trying to set up.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Allocating alphabetically or by application order.
- Placing all of one category together.
- Giving the same vendors the prime pitches every market.
- No reserve list, so cancellations leave gaps.
- Leaving a gap mid-row rather than closing it up.
How to do it with Market Vendor Schedule Planner
The Market Vendor Schedule Planner allocates across dates with category spread.
- List vendors with their category, which drives the adjacency rules.
- Decide whether pitches are fixed or the prime positions rotate.
- Check the adjacency warnings before publishing the layout.
- Keep a reserve list and a plan for closing gaps on the day.
Other planning tools are in the tools directory.
Frequently asked questions
Why spread categories across the market?
Because same-category neighbours compete for the same purchase at the same moment, and both take less than they would apart. Spreading them also makes shoppers walk the whole market.
Should pitches rotate?
The prime positions usually should, since they are worth substantially more. Regular vendors elsewhere benefit from a fixed pitch because customers learn where to find them.
How do I handle no-shows?
A short reserve list, and a plan to close the row physically if nobody can fill in. A gap mid-row costs every stall beyond it, not just the missing one.
Final thought
Never leave a gap in a row. Shoppers read it as the end of the market, and everyone past it pays for the one vendor who did not turn up.