Barb Powell said visitors at Tyler’s Corner Marketplace have enjoyed the variety of clothing, gifts and even locally-produced foods from more than 30 different vendors. The Corner Marketplace was created after Powell bought and refurbished a former auto garage in Tyler’s downtown.

TYLER — It started as an attempt to restore a downtown building in Tyler, Barb Powell said. But over the past several months, the Corner Marketplace has grown into a place where shoppers can find a little bit of everything, and area vendors can find customers.

“It’s a good thing for the community,” said Powell, owner of the Corner Marketplace building. “We still get new customers from all over.”

The Corner Marketplace, located at the corner of North Tyler Street and Hughes Street in Tyler, is a place where area vendors can display and sell their merchandise. Powell said customers at the Corner Marketplace can now find items from more than 30 vendors. Items include everything from clothing and gifts to locally-produced foods.

The space that would become the Corner Marketplace started out as a former auto dealership and garage, Powell said. When Powell bought the building in September, it was in rough shape, she said.

“I said, ‘We have to fix this,'” Powell said. “I was going to fix the building up and then sell it or rent it out,” she said. But the idea to have a vendor marketplace took off.

There was a lot of work that needed to be done to turn the former garage into a retail shop.

“It started out as a wide open space,” Powell said. Part of the updates to the building included building an interior wall, updating the electrical systems and the bathroom, and repairing the roof, she said.

The Corner Marketplace had its grand opening in late November. “We did super good in December. The town supported it really well,” Powell said.

Powell said the marketplace has attracted vendors from Tyler and the surrounding region.

“This is really for people who don’t have an outlet to sell their stuff,” she said. The marketplace worked well for vendors who might have home or online-based businesses without a physical storefront. Vendors paid a commission for space in the marketplace, Powell said.

There were a wide variety of items on display at the marketplace this week. There was clothing from Kenzie Goodmund’s Mid-West Boutique and the Cone Flower Boutique of Edgerton. There was also décor made by Peach Lamote of Tyler, jewelry by artist Alissa Moat, and even locally-produced beef from the Circle K Ranch near Canby.

“I didn’t know all of this was out there,” Powell said of the different vendor displays. “We’ve got something for everybody, I think.” Seeing the range of vendors was part of what made running the Corner Marketplace fun, she said.

At first, Powell said, “I thought this place is so big, it will never fill up.” Now, she said she hoped to possibly expand the shop’s space in the future.

More details on the Corner Marketplace’s hours of operation are available on the business’s Facebook page.