Celebrating 10 years of trading, the market formerly known as Gilles Street Market is upgrading to a new home at the Adelaide Showground.

After 10 years of trading on the grounds of Gilles Street Primary School, Gilles Street Market, the sometimes weekly, sometimes fortnightly event is moving out of the CBD and into the Adelaide Showground’s old dairy shed.

Now under the moniker Gilles at the Grounds, the move is an upgrade for the market both in terms of space – going from 70 stallholders to a potential 114 – and utility, with the traders and punters alike now protected from the weather by the historic red brick pavilion.

“Gilles, because it has been trading for 10 years, we have such a following and such a supporter base, and people come in the rain, they just bring their umbrellas. People come in 36-degree heat, because we do have that continual following,” Jennifer Centenera, the market’s founder, says.

“This obviously heralds an end to inclement weather conditions for the stallholders and provides them with that protection, and for customers as well… [And] inside, everyone can just creatively make their spaces, without having this marquee overhanging, and the product is seen to be more visible.

“We’ve got this amazing outdoor area as well, because we had a bit of feedback from people, obviously, when we said we’re moving indoors: ‘But we like the fact that Gilles is outdoors.’

“We’ll have a teepee set up on the lawn, and at Gilles we’ve been rolling out these trestle tables that sit on little pallet squares, and then we have a whole bunch of boho cushions and rugs, so it’ll be kind of a boho feel with live music out here, a whole kid zone dedicated out here, a vintage coffee stall out here, and games, and dogs are welcome throughout the whole venue. That is a huge thing.”

Gilles at the Grounds (formerly Gilles Street Market) founder, Jennifer Centenera.

With the extra room, the market is now able to cater for a larger demographic.

“Feedback has been often that there’s just not enough for guys to look at. We get it all the time. So we’ve got a barber, we’ve got Greenlight Comics, he’ll be setting up a comic stand, we’ve got men’s wallets, we’ve got streetwear, clothing, we’ve got men’s jewelry, we’ve got more for guys to look at,” she says.

Jennifer had been looking for a new space for over a year, recognising that, although Gilles Street had garnered a loyal following, “if we were going to last another 10 years, we needed to evolve,” she says.

“Obviously we’ve been pretty much the same for 10 years, so it’s time to take it to the next level, and take it up a step. I think what we’re doing here will certainly deliver those objectives.

There are some difficulties with the space, particularly in scheduling the market around the Showground’s myriad other events throughout the year, however, Jennifer expects to have a complementary effect on the weekly Farmers’ Market next door.

“I think it’s a huge complement, both ways, to the spaces, and because I’m working with Kiddo magazine, Charlotte [Chambers], and we’re launching Kiddo markets in here as well, starting in June,” Jennifer says.

“So the idea is to create this zone, quarter of the Showground, with the Farmers Market and us doing what we’re doing here as a real definitive place for families and people to just enjoy weekends and hang out.”

For the moment, Gilles at the Grounds will run on Sundays 10am until 4pm, as it had in the city, but if all goes well, Jennifer hopes to open the market up on Saturdays for evening trade, and potentially look at licensing the venue.

“There’s a lot of people that also write to us and say ‘We work all weekend, we can’t get there,’ so it would be great to be able to accommodate those people that could come down after work 5 until 9, have something to eat, hang out with some live music, have a beer,” Jennifer says.

But for now, Jennifer hopes her regular Gilles punters make their way down to Wayville to see the next iteration of the Gilles Street Market.