The Common Market

Location: 900 W. 8th Street

Year Opened: 2016

Current Use: Corner Store and Music Venue

The Common Market is a combination general store, restaurant, and music venue that was opened on June 14, 2016 by Mike Martin and Cory Gipson in the building of Grimm’s Market, a former grocery store.[1] Martin, who is a musician himself, was inspired to open the store after he played a grocery store music venue in North Carolina.[2] The co-owners established The Plank Brothers Inc. hoping to open for-profit ventures that could provide funds to invest back into the neighborhood.[3] Martin and Gipson work to provide a safe space and resources to the unhoused population in Muncie, especially following the closing of the homeless housing organization Bridges Community Services in 2021.[4] The Common Market gives back to the community through its “donation station,” an entire room dedicated to free food, clothes, and books for those in need.[5] Eventually, the Market plans on becoming a full grocery store supplied by locally grown produce from the Plank Brother’s farm.[6] Culturally, it hosts professional musicians and young artists alike, with music lessons and a recording studio currently under construction.[7]

[1] Rebecca Bream, “New ‘Market’ created to give back,” The Star Press, June 30, 2016, https://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2016/06/30/new-market-created-give-back/85937720/; O. Wayne Botkin, “Grocery Stores: The Good Old Days in Muncie,” Muncie Evening Press, April 3, 1982.

[2] Mike Martin, interviewed by Kate Dille and Kaitlyn Spoerner, February 1, 2024.

[3] Sumayyah Muhammad, "Daily Lifestyles: Common Market brings fresh produce to southside Muncie." Ball State Daily News, April 5, 2022, https://www.ballstatedailynews.com/article/2022/04/daily-lifestyles-common-market-southside-muncie.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Mike Martin, interviewed by Kate Dille and Kaitlyn Spoerner, February 1, 2024.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.