Jan Powers Farmers Markets Powerhouse

Jan Powers Farmers Markets began more than 30 years ago as Brisbane's first farmers market, founded by Jan Power, a woman whose culinary influence reshaped the city's food scene. Born in 1939 in Glen Innes and raised on a sheep property near Stanthorpe, Power trained as a cook at Le Cordon Bleu in London before returning to Brisbane, where she became both a social fixture and a genuine culinary trendsetter.

Three generations of the same family, one market

The Powerhouse location has its own milestone: the market moved into Brisbane Powerhouse when the venue opened in 2000, and has traded from that same site almost a full generation later. What makes the market genuinely unusual is its ownership structure: it remains family-owned and operated to this day, now run by Jan's daughter Astrid Gates and her granddaughters Emily, Olivia and India Gates, a direct three-generation line back to the market's founder.

Reviewers consistently describe it as a favourite Brisbane spot on a nice day, praising the fruit, vegetables, flowers and food stalls, with regulars specifically noting they return weekly for perishables at prices matching or barely exceeding supermarkets, but with noticeably fresher quality.

Good to know before you go

Arriving early, before the late-morning crowd, gives the best selection of perishables before popular stalls sell out. Finishing a shop with a relax in the surrounding New Farm Park is a genuinely popular way locals extend the Saturday morning outing.