Cobb Street Market streamlining community commerce

PALMER — Cobb Street Market: little things from the heart, now offers a gathering space for people to drop off their local goods and expertise and share it with the community. Cobb Street Market is located at 625 South Cobb St. Suite 100 where Neighbor Works had been. The cozy space is filled top to bottom with goods and goodies from local businesses.

Andrea and David Fuller opened March 1 in the small corner store. Andrea expanded her Matanuska Marketplace which had been providing pop up shops at the Depot to the space on Cobb St. More than 50 local businesses either rent space or consign with CSM. The Fullers pay taxes to the City of Palmer and then pay the business owners whose goods they sold.

“We have a wide variety of very unique items. People can come in here and find unique things that they want to give from their heart, but also unique things that these artists and people make from their heart. That’s what it’s all about here” said Andrea Fuller.

The space is floor to ceiling packed with goods. Sensory overload sets in as soon as you enter, the sights of framed pictures and paintings of Alaskana, beard products, beaded jewelry, hand carved wooden toys, handmade wooden furniture, gnomes, sea salts, bird houses, vintage signs, clothing, and everything else under the sun seem to be packed in just tight enough to walk around. It smells like something is about to come out of the oven and each wall contains a new door into the work of an Alaskan artist.

Cobb St. Market is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. They offer a variety of different ways to get involved in their space. Alaska Kombucha Company dropped off a bulk supply to fill their preorder that had gone through the store. An 11 by 12 foot room inside the store will have classes offered. Mystical Forest Designs will pop up from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 10. Tilgner’s Special Smoked Seafoods will have samples of their salmon candy, smoked oysters, smoked lox and dark rum smoked king salmon. Illiana Hauptman of Simply Smooth will also be offering samples of her artisan European-style jams and preserves.

Hauptman is just one of the 50 or more businesses that run their businesses through CSM. Hauptman started Simply Smooth LLC after trying to discover what was making her mother sick. The preservatives in processed foods were making her mother sick, so Hauptman made a trek to find out what kind of foods she could make that would help her mother.

“We had to go back to Europe where my parents are from and we went through extensive digging through the relatives and stuff because nothing’s written down, it’s all passed down,” said Hauptman.

Hauptman has been winning Alaska State Fair awards with her homemade jam, preserves and pickled items over the last few years. Her products come from as many natural ingredients as she can gather, and as many home grown products as she can produce She now has a stand full of her products that she originally discovered as a way to help her mother at CSM.

The Fuller’s hope to expand their business in the summer. Once the snow clears, cafe tables and chairs will be placed on the sidewalk for serving food and drinks from pop up vendors. In the future, the Fuller’s have dreams to knock down a wall to expand space and operate Cobb Street Market and Cafe full time in the larger space, even to incorporate a wine bar within five years. When the Summer months come around, CSM will offer fresh sunflowers and peonies, flower baskets, and fresh fish from the Kenai Peninsula.

“We started this because we wanted to be a leader for others as far as making their dreams come true, essentially,” said Fuller. “A lot of people expressed desire for permanent storefront.”