Capital Food Market
Canberra's Belconnen fresh food market hall, trading on the same corner since 1976 and rebuilt as a European-style market and dining precinct at the end of 2023.
About this market
A fresh food market has operated on this corner of Belconnen since 1976. On Wednesday 13 December 2023 it reopened as Capital Food Market, a rebuilt European-style market hall on the corner of Lathlain and Market streets, with around 40 independent traders moving in progressively over the following months. Long-running names from the old Belconnen Fresh Food Markets came across with it, including Tom's Superfruits, Markets Meats, Knead Patisserie, Natural Living, Deli Cravings and the Chicken Coop.
Half grocer, half dining hall
The rebuild changed what the site is for. It still does the job a fresh food market does, with butchers, greengrocers, bakers and delis selling over the counter, but it now runs a casual dining layer alongside them, with tenancies trading into the evening rather than shutting at grocery hours. That combination is the point: you can do a proper week's shop and eat lunch in the same building, and the traders cooking there are the same sort of independent operators as the ones weighing your fruit.
Market at a glance
Five trading days rather than seven is a deliberate choice, and it keeps the place closer to a market than a supermarket. Wednesday to Sunday, 8am to 6pm, means the weekend is the busy end and Wednesday morning is the calm one. The building runs on solar electricity with thermal temperature control, and the operators rotate a Trader of the Month spotlight rather than treating the tenancies as interchangeable.
The rebuilt market was designed to work as a single environment rather than a row of shops, with solar electricity and thermal temperature control built into the hall, so produce sits in a controlled space instead of an open-air arcade.
Good to know before you go
Do not turn up on a Monday or Tuesday. Those are the two closed days, and they catch out people who assume a fresh food market keeps supermarket hours. There is parking on site, plus public toilets, parents' rooms and lawn and garden areas if you have children with you, and the venue has disabled access. Saturday and Sunday between mid-morning and early afternoon is the busiest stretch, so if you are shopping rather than eating, a weekday morning gets you a quieter counter and a longer conversation with whoever is behind it.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What days is Capital Food Market open?
- Wednesday to Sunday, 8am to 6pm, with some of the dining tenancies trading later into the evening. It is closed Monday and Tuesday.
- Is this the old Belconnen Fresh Food Markets?
- Yes. The site has traded as a fresh food market since 1976 and reopened under the Capital Food Market name on 13 December 2023 after a major rebuild.
- Is there parking?
- Yes, there is a carpark on site, along with public toilets, parents' rooms and lawn and garden areas.