Long before the days of refrigerated produce cases and four walls, the produce arcades looked a lot more like a farmers market. Vendors worked through cold, harsh winters, trudging carts through snow and ice. Then, they had to endure long, hot summers. If the berries hadn’t been reduced to sticky mush by the end of the day, the workers certainly had.

The difficult conditions allowed tension between the indoor vendors and the outdoor vendors to build. Not only were produce vendors facing vastly depleted working conditions compared to their interior peers, but they were also alienated demographically. Generally, while the indoor vendors were largely a more formally educated Northern European crowd, the produce vendors were often Italian immigrants who were more vulnerable to poverty and a lack of educational opportunities at the time.

A major improvement to this overlooked tension was the integration of the two separate tenant associations. Once produce vendors and interior vendors were working towards common working conditions, tensions lessened. Then, in 2001, produce vendors received retractable glass doors, electricity, and heating. Additionally, with the refrigerating and display renovation finished in January 2026, the last years have been much more comfortable for vendors and customers alike.