Cobb Street Market celebrates successful holiday season

PALMER— Cobb Street Market owners Andrea and David Fuller are happily married and spending their days running their homegrown retail business out of downtown Palmer.

Andrea said that had a very busy and very successful holiday season in 2021. She said they also spent the last year expanding their space to make it more accommodating for customers, and they even broke into women’s fashion for the first time.

“Customer service pays dividends and we couldn’t be happier,” Andrea said. We’re going to keep that momentum going. This is typically a slow time for retail, January through March, but we’re going for it.”

Cobb Street Market offers a variety of goods, ranging from scented soaps and kitchenware to various clothing and jewelry items. Andrea said they take pride in their variety and originality, and it’s been a fun journey establishing their presence in Palmer’s local business community.

“Our customers love our kitschy, naughty attitude. Sometimes we get in trouble for it, but it’s what we are. We have a sense of humor and we don’t mind putting it out there,” Andrea said with a laugh.

David said that a majority of their wares are from Alaskan companies, which is one of their guiding principles for how they want to operate their business.

“The biggest thing we tried to establish was our Alaskan-made products. We work with a myriad of Alaskan companies that we’re really proud of,” David said.

Cobb Street Market was established in March 2018 with about 50 vendors and consigners. David said they evolved as a business by bringing on consignors and renting out floor space, which gave them the chance to figure out what people want to buy while getting by month to month. He said that after about a year of that, they went to consignment and wholesale, then another year later, they went to strictly retail.

“Basically, we were learning as we went,” David said.

Cobb Street Market is one of several local businesses that participate in the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce activities throughout the year, such as the annual Shop Palmer event during the holiday season.

They’re also one of several participating establishments that accept Bingles, which are wooden, locally crafted coins that can be spent like cash at participating locations. Bingles essentially serve as Palmer-specific gift cards that are intended to incentivize local shopping in a unique way while paying tribute to the community’s colonial history.

“That will be invested back into the community,” David said.

Andrea said that she’s enjoyed being a part of the Palmer community, and she looks forward to participating in annual events like the upcoming Wine Walk in February.

“We’ll be doing a bunch of fun things,” Andrea said.

Cobb Street Market is located within the Downtown Palmer Plaza at 550 South Alaska Street, Suite 107. For more information, call 907-745-2622 or visit cobb-street-market.com.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com