Blissful Carrot Market: a ‘hang out and chill’ bazaar

Blissful Carrot, a local vegetarian and vegan restaurant, recently brought its market, along with various vendors, artisans and workshops, to the Grand Coloane Resort.
The ‘Blissful Carrot Market’ runs every third Wednesday of the month at the resort and has attracted many locals and expatriates.
Alyson Lundstrom, managing partner of Blissful Carrot, told the Times that they started the initiative with the aim of allowing the public to access organic vegetables and organic goods. This has been undertaken in collaboration with a small selection of vendors.
“I think when we first started, we had a few vendors who we already knew could do something like this or who were already participating in markets,” she said.
“They’re thinking of things they could sell, and they could start their own small businesses by coming to our market, which is really cool and so we kind of snowball to people who have a talent on the side and […] do this as a side project, so it has inspired a lot of people, I think,” she added.
Though Alyson admits that the location seemed ‘a bit iffy’ at first, she claims that there has been an increase in the number of attendees. She also believes that the participants could be exposed to a ‘beautiful’ part of Macau.
“The idea is to take a break in the middle of the week and leave central Macau, to come feel like you’re somewhere else,” the managing partner said.
“We also added music, some workshops, and things that allow people to feel that they haven’t come all the way to just buy few things and leave. Now they can come and eat, enjoy the music and chill out. So it’s definitely more of an involved experience which has become a hang-out space now.”
Fransiska Orris, a paper crafter for over 30 years, said that the market has drawn families and individuals together in the middle of the week. She believes that such bazaars are nice outlets for small and homemade businesses.
“It’s a nice outlet to have bazaars and markets like this because I do have a day job other than this, so this is just a hobby […], even just to let people know that we exist. Because to have a proper shop is quite difficult here, I think,” she claimed.
“It’s always a good vibe. It’s always nice to be here because you see people who have come from different lifestyles. They’re interested in what we offer and you get to meet some like-minded people at the same time,” she added.
Orris believes that Macau needs such markets, not necessarily for businesses, but to facilitate family gatherings.  Staff reporter