Hardin's River Mercantile
Hardin's River Mercantile was a cooperative farm-to-market store located inside the River Market building at 400 President Clinton Avenue in Little Rock. The store closed in December of 2007. Vendor Jody Hardin at the time explained, "We just realized that we're really wanting to do local food and the River Market is not really promoting or creating policies that are conducive to local foods or local farmers." Hardin estimated that seventy percent of the food sold in the River Market Farmer's Market came from outside the state. "Farmers often they stop growing [sic] and start wholesaling and reselling at the market and the rules permit this." He also cited lack of parking as an immediate reason to leave Ottenheimer Market Hall in the River Market District.
