Stats:

1979 W. 25th Street, Cleveland, OH, 44113
This indoor market is home to well over 100 vendors, 95% of which deal in food, and approximately 25% of those sell prepared food items.
Open year-round
Monday & Wednesday, 7am to 4pm
Friday & Saturday, 7am to 6pm
Closed Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays
Note: Holidays may vary.

Back Story:

It may be called the West Side Market, but for many locals, it truly occupies the heart of Cleveland. The market began as an open-air neighborhood market in 1840, across the street from its current location. This is Cleveland’s oldest publicly owned market. Over time there were small expansions, but thanks to the population growth, the West Side Market building was created. This building opened in 1912 with its large yellow-brick interior concourse and a produce arcade that wraps around the side and rear of the main building. Its 137-foot clocktower can be seen for miles around.

Impressions:

Meat itself is the meat of the matter here, thanks to a rich history of immigration to Cleveland from central and eastern Europe as well as the Mediterranean. Delis and butcheries especially rule the West Side roost. Sausages seem to writhe in piles and cold cuts are stacked like firewood. Here ducks and capons, plucked clean, beckon; there a pig’s snout pokes out from behind the glass. And everywhere you’ll see shoppers gobbling down bratwursts and gyros. And yet that isn’t the half of what this sprawling market has to offer. Bakeries hawk strudel and pretzels; fresh pasta and perogi await in dozens of shapes, sizes, and flavors; Irish pasties and falafel in pita are ready and waiting for you to grab before moving on in to the arcade lined with stall after stall after stall of fruits and vegetables. It’s not strictly indie or organic—resellers abound—but come winter in Ohio, the pyramids of peppers and melons, the bunches upon bunches of grapes and bananas, sure are brightly inviting.

Travel Tips:

Saturdays after 10:00 AM, WSM is at its busiest. Like, crazy busy. If you find bustle blissful, that’s the time to go; if crowds give you the creeps, come earlier, when everything’s especially fresh and well-stocked.

There are two free parking lots off of West 24th Street.
Public Transit: Access via Red Line Rapid, W. 25th–Ohio City Station
Bus lines 20A, 22, 25, 35, and 79 A/B
Some vendors are cash-only, but there is an ATM on site.

Contacts/Links:
West Side Market website
The West Side Market Office
Phone: 216-664-3387

Map:

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