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I am absolutely in love with Seattle's Pike Place Market. The fact that it is year-round, covered, with regular, official vendors selling everything from fresh flowers to fish, bagels and chocolates, jelly and crafts, daily, at very good prices make Pike Place amazing. Is there anything like that in the Boston area? Or New England in general? I know Boston has Haymarket...but that cannot even be compared...

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The Boston Public Market opened in July, 2015. It bills itself as an "indoor, year round marketplace for locally sourced groceries and specialty agricultural products, where residents and visitors can find fresh, seasonal food from Massachusetts and New England." On their What is a Public Market? page, Pike Place and Philadelphia's Reading Terminal are mentioned as inspiration.

The focus is definitely on food products, so it's not quite the same as the eclectic Place Market. But, since it's restricted to local goods, it's a different feel from the (already mentioned) Quincy Market / Faneuil Hall, which is very touristy and has Sunglass Hut, Urban Outfitters, etc.

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  • I've been there. It's a nice place with some great local produce and meat, but not so much cooked food. North End is just around the corner, though.
    – xuq01
    Jul 19, 2018 at 6:57
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I don't know Seattle's Pike Place Market, so perhaps my answer will not satisfy you completely. However, Boston has a covered market which is surrounded on both sides by a series of small shops (all-year-round) and lots of stalls, which I presume are there only in the summer. I'm talking about Quincy Market, which is in the area where Faneuil Hall is.

I don't remember whether you have people selling flowers or fish, but surely you have a wide variety of retailers and it is not meant for the tourists only. You can have a look at what is available if you go to Faneuil Hall Marketplace webpage.

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I don't think there's anything similar; your best bet might be to try one of the farmers' markets - more details from TimeOut Boston here. These at least have produce and the like, but are only once or twice a week, none year round.

Haymarket / Quincy Market doesn't really compare; apparently Haymarket has remaindered produce, so not comparable with the pick of the crop that you'd find at a real farmers' market; and much of Quincy Market is more like a mall that just happens to be outdoors.

For those not familiar with Seattle's Pike Place Market, it's a year-round market housed in a series of buildings featuring specific areas for fish and seafood, fresh produce, crafts, and so on, and also various storefronts selling books, kitchenware, bric-a-brac and so on, and various food counters. As far as I know, only independent merchants are allowed, so it has a very locals feel - no chains or stores you'd see in a mall. While it's busy with tourists in summer, many locals who live or work nearby in downtown will actually do grocery shopping or have lunch there. There's only a few cities that I know of that have something comparable; Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles, Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver BC. In other cities, pop-up Farmers' Markets are your best bet.

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    Pike Place Market has no chains or stores you'd see in a mall — except, you know, that one.
    – mattdm
    Aug 30, 2016 at 19:02
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    Ha, good point! Though perhaps it gets an exemption since it was one of their original stores? Another exception is Sur La Table - which also got started in Pike Place Market.
    – BrendanMcK
    Aug 30, 2016 at 19:39

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