Adelaide Central Market

~ At 3.15am on Saturday, 23rd January 1869, a group of market gardeners made their way to a site between Gouger Street and Grote Street, Adelaide and started to sell their produce. Over 500 people are said to have attended that first market day with all stock selling out by 6.00am!

From such a successful beginning, it was not long before the Adelaide Central Market officially opened one year later in January 1870. Thirty years later, in 1900, the first stone was laid to build the Central Market façade, which still stands today.

I have been going to ‘the market’, as most people call it, for as long as I can remember. First, as a child, along with my parents who shopped there every week, and then as an adult, either on my own or with other family members. Currently, Friday evenings are my preferred visiting hours, and shopping is always preceded by a meal in the Asian food hall close to the main market.

Originally known as the City Market, the facility was officially named the Central Market in August 1965. Despite two major fires (one in 1925, and the other in 1977), the market continues to offer almost every variety of fresh fruit and vegetable available in South Australia.

Also available from more than 80 stalls are a wide range of fresh and processed meats, continental deli’s and cheese outlets, seafood stalls, and others specialising in nuts, confectionary, coffee and other specialty foods. And of course, let’s not overlook the bakeries, patisseries, and numerous cafés and restaurants,

For more than 140 years, the Central Market has been the food Mecca for multicultural cuisine and fresh produce in Adelaide, and today the Central Market is South Australia’s most visited tourist attraction.

For those of us who live in Adelaide and shop regularly there, the market is more than a tourist attraction, of course. This is the one place were all classes of people meet and greet each other, rub shoulders with celebrity chefs, indulge their love for fresh fruit and vegetables, and soak their senses in the myriad aromas that waft around the cheese stalls and coffee stalls, and the many other outlets. The market is also a great meeting place for families and friends. Getting together for a meal at Lucia’s, or a coffee and cake at Zuma’s Café, or maybe a cheap, freshly made Won Ton soup in the Asian food hall is a standard occurrence among regular market aficionado’s.

Events & Activities

A wide range of events and activities are scheduled each week at the market. Some traders offer product samples in ‘try before you buy’ promotions, while others present short classes, and product/produce demonstrations each week.

Central Market Tours

With a 30 year background as a chef and 20 years as a stall holder in the Market, Mark Gleeson conducts Central Market Tours that aim to provide participants with an exclusive experience interacting with suppliers, producers and retailers of South Australia’s vibrant food industry. Tour guests receive a level of history and product knowledge of the Adelaide Central Market, not available by others. For more information or to book your tour, visit Central Market Tour… 

Top Food & Wine Tour

There are several tour operators in South Australia that also offer tours of the Central Market for your enjoyment.  For more information on tours of the Market, visit Top Food & Wine Tours… www.topfoodandwinetours.com.au

Trading Hours

Tuesday: 7am - 5.30pm

Wednesday: 9am - 5.30pm*

Thursday: 9am - 5.30pm

Friday: 7am - 9pm

Saturday: 7am - 3pm

*Optional trading day, not all stalls open

Closed Public Holidays

More Information

Adelaide Central Market…