Created by the city to combat high food prices, the market has grown from eight farmers' wagons on the first day to 190 year-round businesses, 50 restaurant and take-out establishments, and 200 stalls rented by the day.
Among the most popular merchants is the Pike Place Fish Market. The workers here are famous for tossing the fish to each other to make up customers' orders. The Read All About It stall offers books and magazines from around the world. The market features a huge variety of international vendors. Performers, called buskers, entertain diners in Post Alley, where cars are not permitted.
The first Starbucks opened at Pike Place Market in 1971.
The various buildings of Pike Place Market take up several blocks of downtown Seattle on Elliot Bay: between Pike and Virginia streets, and from First to Western avenues.
In the spring of 2009, the Pike Place Market began a four-year renovation to upgrade the electrical system, structure, retail space and environmental control in addition to building new elevators and restrooms. The renovation will be completed in phases, which are outlined at http://www.pikeplacemarket.org.
