The new fruit and vegetable wholesale market, based at Epping, is in its final development stages and is on schedule to open at the beginning of August.
This month, wholesalers who have registered will find out which positions they have been allocated for their trucks and vans. This is the last piece of organisation that needs to be completed before trading can begin, as ballots for the actual stands and leases for warehouse space have already been finalised.
Most of the 3,000 traders that used the old market, which was further from the central business district in West Melbourne, have agreed to move to the new Epping facility, which has also attracted a number of new companies.
Firms working in the improved market could use poster printing to advertise their stock on site, or ask a printing company to prepare a mail shot to existing customers to alert them to the new trading arrangements.
The new Epping site will cover 70 hectares and has uses modern technology that makes it safer to work in and more carbon friendly than the previous market.
The site is more than twice the size of the original market and has room for further expansion in the future. It has been regarded as a huge boost for Epping, which has seen a high level of commercial land sales in recent years.
