Farewell to the ByWard Fruit Market, and hello to Hard 2 Find, Hard 2 Get!

By Nadia Stuewer

Owners Isaac and Miriam Farbiasz are sad to be closing the ByWard Fruit Market this spring, after 26 years of purveying fresh produce and gourmet foods to residents of the ByWard Market, Lowertown, and beyond. Their customers are sad to see them go too.  

Isaac and Miriam bought the fruit market in 1999 after Isaac retired from his clothing business. The store had been floundering and the Farbiaszs decided to focus on better quality and gourmet products, turning their shop into a  successful “foodie mecca.”  

The ByWard Fruit Market also specialized in unusual products that were hard to find elsewhere. If it was unusual, Isaac would buy it, and his customers would in turn purchase it from him to enjoy. For example, he offers black radishes, a European specialty that are good for hangovers and, when mixed with honey, for coughs. He also sells the best free-range eggs in Ottawa, according to his happy customers.

In his quarter century as a merchant, Isaac has seen the ByWard Market, once the bustling centre of food retail in Ottawa, slowly decline. Today, there are few food stores left on ByWard Market Square, a city block that once held thriving butchers and bakers, fruit and cheese stores. Small food stores are no longer profitable, with large grocery chains and the rise of grocery deliveries.

Over the past 15 years, Isaac has noticed the craft vendors in the Market building being replaced by restaurants, a trend also seen in the wider market, as it metamorphosed to “one large eatery” in response to tourist demand.

When William Street was closed to cars, it caused traffic snarls on the surrounding streets. Local businesses along the ByWard Market Square were stunned by the significant drop in business after the first weekend alone. Some of Issac’s customers, like one who took 45 minutes to drive four blocks, vowed that they would never come back.

Between pedestrianization, aggressive ticketing by by-law enforcement, and the lack of parking spaces, Isaac has seen business volumes decrease steadily. The spread of new farmers’ markets around the city also hurt the longstanding outdoor market.

At the beginning, Covid was a blessing to the food shops of the ByWard Market Square, but later it became the final nail in the coffin. In the early days, the fruit market, Saslove’s Meats, Lapointe Fish, and the House of Cheese banded together to ship grocery orders to desperate customers. This partnership became the Best of ByWard initiative, but demand petered out within a couple of years as people returned to large grocery stores with easier car access and free parking. Last year, Saslove’s and the House of Cheese closed, further reducing the number of specialty food stores.   

Many outdoor market vendors who sold farm produce also did not return after being forced to close for two years due to Covid. The farmers retired and their children did not want to continue the business. Now, there are few if any outdoor produce vendors, and ByWard is a market in name only.

Isaac and Miriam tried to find a buyer for their business, but could not find anyone willing to work hard enough to rescue a failing business. So, in January they made the difficult decision not to renew their lease.

Not yet ready for the boredom and ennui of retirement, Isaac decided to open an online store. To the delight of disappointed customers who asked him, “where am I going to find that special product that is so hard to get that only you carried?” Isaac’s new store will provide those products. Hard 2 Find, Hard 2 Get’s website launched on April 23, before the physical store closed down on May 10.

From Bomba rice, the best rice for paella, to tonka beans, the online store offers a selection of salts, pestos, Denman Island chocolates, and manuka honey, to name only a few. Unusual fresh produce will also be offered as it’s available.

A “Chef’s Selection” section is aimed at the city’s restaurants, although the rest of us can shop there too. It is appropriate that wild mushrooms are on offer, since Isaac has specialized in truffles for the past 20 years.

Isaac even has his own line of coffee. Isaac’s Blend by Equator Coffee Roasters is a medium-dark roast, “unique like the person it was named after.”  This is certainly available in the online store.

The space that hosts the ByWard Fruit Market has been a store since the 1880s when the building was constructed. Early merchants included a flower shop and an egg vendor, before it became a fruit market.  At that time, the ByWard Market truly was the main produce market for all of Ottawa. We hope that the new tenants of 36 ByWard Market Square will continue the tradition of contributing to the community.  Meanwhile, loyal customers of the ByWard Fruit Market can continue their foodie adventures with Isaac and Miriam at Hard2FindHard2Get.ca.