A fall market organized by a group of students from the Event Operation program raised money for a charity chosen by the organizers and George Brown College (GBC) scholarships.

The market was held Nov. 24 at GBC’s St. James campus, in an open space so people could visit as soon as they entered the building.

Jaseera Shajahan, one of the organizers, said approximately 500 students visited the market throughout the day.

Vendors from different backgrounds such as current GBC students, graduates, and outside sellers were included in the market.

They set up their own tables and aligned their products. Different kinds of products and services, such as jewelry, digital posters, henna painting and handmade goods like soaps, stuffed animals and crocheted products, were sold at the market.

Adding to their ‘fall’ theme, free hot chocolate was available for vendors and visitors at the market.

“This market was amazing. The people were great. The vibe was great,” said Rokkia Razamal, a small business owner selling journals.

Some other vendors mentioned they would like for such events to attract more outside visitors in the future.

“From a vendor perspective, the spots are rented at a very good price and the venue also attracts a lot of students. I hope that this can attract more outside people because, like, there is downtime when students are all in class and we don’t really have many customers. There are so many different vendors and have so many cool things. It’ll be nice for them to see that,” said Tran Nguyen, a student vendor from the community worker program.

Another vendor and GBC alumni, Hannah Klein thinks the event is worthy of being continued and hopes to see different themes for other times of the year. She added that increasing advertising to create more traffic should be considered by the organisers.

Although the fall market event was a success in the eyes of most vendors and visitors, Shajahan says it was challenging for the organizers.

“I think one of the biggest challenges for us was the venue because we had very limited options. We had a lot of vendors registered with us, but we had to shortlist. We could accommodate only 23 vendors because of the space restriction in the atrium. If we had a bigger venue, we’re allowed to have a bigger market.”

Search for sponsorship was another challenge for them.

The event was sponsored by a newly launched, for-profit thrift store located in downtown Toronto.

The owners of the Wildlife Thrift Store, Karla Ahlqvist and her husband have 21 years’ experience of running her first branch in Vancouver. They believe in recycling and giving back as a part of the solution to recycle, reuse and repurpose.

As students love to shop at the Wildlife Thrift store, Ahlqvist thought sponsoring a student event could further promote the values of recycling and her business among students.

Most items at the store are marked at an affordable price even for students, ranging from $5 to $15 on average. The store donates part of their profits to their partner charities.

Throughout different stages of organizing the fall market, the major takeaway for the organizers was how to create a win-win situation in any events.

“A lot of people are looking for opportunities. So, if you have a good platform, if you organize a good event, such as a market or affair or pop up, small businesses especially are always looking for opportunities to collaborate and expand their clientele or customer base especially with students,” said Shajahan “So, it was a win-win for both of us because by buying a table from us, they were contributing to a fundraiser and for us, we gave them an opportunity to connect with a big student network.”

They raised hundreds of dollars and the amount will be donated to the GBC Foundation and other charities. In recent years, the funds were donated to the SickKids Foundation, the Toronto Humane Society, and VIBE Arts.

For more information about the organizers and the sponsor, visit @gbc_fall_market on Instagram and @wildlifethriftstore.