Micro Market Opens in Downtown Lansing

A new incubator market for local small businesses opened its doors in downtown Lansing Oct. 15.

Middle Village Micro Market will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays at 112 S. Washington Square, supplying the downtown district with goods from a variety of retail businesses.

The market is supported in part by Lake Trust Credit Union, which will be working with entrepreneurs and startups in the space to help them achieve their goals. The market serves as a venue for smaller retail merchants to grow their business and customer base, and it will feature items for many occasions through the holiday season as a convenient one-stop shop for a variety of local Lansing-made gifts.

Among the initial businesses featured in the initial opening of Middle Village are MI Alchemy, which sells bath and body products from a local lavender farm; Capital Hippie, which makes handmade tie-dye apparel; A Novel Concept, a new and gently used bookstore; Sweet Encounter Bakery, which offers baked goods with a focus on people with food allergies; and a Lansing Downtown shop, featuring Lansing T-shirts, gifts, plants and more.

“Middle Village is a space that will empower the small-business owner while offering another opportunity for customers to lift up local in the downtown business district,” said Downtown Lansing Inc. Executive Director Cathleen Edgerly. “Middle Village and our new office space allowed us to build a sustainable model for addressing vacancies downtown, diversify our business mix and start a transition from businesses that serve the daytime worker to having more businesses downtown that offer more around-the-clock options for our residents.”