A town that is quiet for six days can be barely navigable on the seventh. The weekly market reorganises everything about how the place functions for that day.
Traders operate a circuit, not a shop
Most market traders work several towns across a week, appearing in each on a fixed day that has usually been stable for a long time.
That circuit is what makes the business viable, since no single small town generates enough demand to support a specialist stall daily.
It also explains why neighbouring towns hold their markets on different days, an arrangement that is coordinated rather than coincidental.
The town's infrastructure is rearranged
Squares and main streets that carry traffic on other days are closed from early morning, and parking moves to the edges of the town.
Setting up begins before dawn and clearing away continues into the afternoon, so the disruption is considerably longer than the trading hours suggest.
Municipalities allocate pitches, collect fees and manage the layout, which is why the same trader occupies the same position year after year.
Fixed shops adjust rather than compete
Permanent shops in a market town often see their best trade on market day, because the crowd it draws is far larger than the town's own population.
Cafés extend their hours and put out more tables, and some businesses close on a different day of the week instead to compensate.
The market therefore supports the shops around it rather than undercutting them, which is why towns protect the arrangement.
It functions as a social institution
For surrounding villages the market is a fixed point in the week, and the reason many people come into town at all.
Business gets done in the cafés around the square as much as at the stalls, and the trading is only part of what the day is for.
This is why market day retains its hold despite supermarkets, and why attempts to move a market to a more convenient site often fail.
How a visitor should time it
Early morning is when the produce is complete and the traders have time to talk, and it is also when local customers shop.
The final half hour brings price reductions on anything perishable, since traders would rather sell than carry stock to the next town.
Arriving by car around mid-morning is the one approach to avoid, because the parking has filled and the roads into the centre are closed.