New report measures Findlay Market’s impact on Cincinnati’s economy

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The presentation for Findlay Market’s economic impact report was held Tuesday afternoon at OTR Stillhouse, located at 2017 Branch St. About 30 people were in attendance to watch the presentation, which began around 4:30 p.m.

Opening remarks

Cincinnati City Council Member Anna Albi opened the presentation by thanking Findlay Market for its work to combat food insecurity in the region. She said the market, which has been in operation since 1852, is a key driver in the local economy.

The report released Tuesday is the first-ever economic impact study conducted for Findlay Market, according to the Corporation for Findlay Market (CFFM), the private nonprofit that manages and operates the public market.

“While what [impact] Findlay has brought to Cincinnati is probably intangible … this report helps us put a number on that impact,” Albi said.

CFFM President and CEO Kelly Lanser then took the podium, noting the significance of the market’s first economic impact study. “We were not able to quantify the impact before now,” she said.

Presentation

The full Findlay Market economic impact report can be found here.

The 27-page report was conducted by the Cincinnati Regional Chamber’s Center for Research and Data. Brandon Rudd, director of the research center, presented its findings.

Rudd said Over-the-Rhine has seen rebirth, regrowth and redevelopment, and Findlay has been a community anchor throughout the neighborhood’s development. 

According to the report:

• Findlay Market receives approximately 1.4 million visitors per year.
• Between 2021 and 2023, the total economic impact of CFFM operations and operation of Findlay Market vendors was $370,587,529.
  • The highest annual impact over that three-year period was in 2023, when the study determined a $141,364,079 impact during that time.
• There has been more than $505.4 million in capital investment to the area surrounding Findlay Market, roughly bounded by Central Parkway, Liberty Street, Walnut Street and McMicken Avenue.  The research center looked at 53 recent projects in that study area, which brought:
  • No fewer than 1,049 residential units.
  • More than 1,170,787 square feet of development (624,574 residential; 395,947 retail; 80,886 commercial; 60,000 civic use; 7,600 hospitality).
• Capital investment brings the total economic impact between 2018 and 2023 to just over $1.1 billion. Of the metrics direct or indirect:
  • $240,939,974 earnings, 4,175 jobs created or supported, and $22.2 million taxes generated.
• All 147 businesses that partnered with Findlay Learn and Findlay Launch, the market’s residency-based storefront accelerator program, were all BIPOC-, women-, or immigrant-owned.

Earnings numbers come from vendor surveys, Rudd said during the presentation. However, according to the study’s methodology, not all vendors completed the survey. “The total economic impact of vendors who did not respond to the survey were modeled using the median expenditures of vendors that did respond,” the methodology states.

Read more about the study’s methodology on page 26 of the report.

Rudd said Findlay has three times the impact of Milwaukee’s public market.

“It really does punch above its weight in our region,” he said. “The development that’s happening around Findlay, with the market with a catalyst … you can see it in these numbers. We have known for a long time about the impact it has on our local economy.”

Rudd concluded just after 5 p.m. He was available for one-on-one questions following the presentation. There was no public forum on the study’s findings.

You can find these notes on Documenters.org here.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcincinnati.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.

Find more Documenters’ notes on Cincinnati City Council here.