Market Halls

A market hall is a covered space or a building where food and other articles are sold from stalls by independent vendors. A market hall is a type of indoor market and is especially common in many European countries. A food hall, the most usual variation of a market hall, is “a large section of a department store, where food is sold” according to the Oxford Dictionary.

Market Halls

Salas de Mercado

Markthallen

市场大厅

Market halls and food halls can also be unconnected to department stores and operate independently, often in a separate building. A modern market hall may also exist in the form of what is nominally a gourmet food hall or a public market, for example in Stockholm’s Östermalm Saluhall or Mexico City’s Mercado Roma.
The terms “Food hall” and “Food court” must not be confused with each other. A food court means a place where the fast food chain outlets are located in a shopping mall. Unlike food courts made up of fast food chains, food halls typically mix local artisan restaurants, butcher shops and other food-oriented boutiques under one roof. The term “food hall” in the British sense, meaning an equivalent of a market hall, is increasingly used in the United States. In some Asia-Pacific countries, “food hall” is equivalent to a North American “food court”, or the terms are used interchangeably.

Halles de Marché

Рыночные залы

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Hale Targowe

In the Middle Ages and early modern times, covered markets were held either in the open basement of a town hall or in an open half-timbered structure (a hall). In Flanders, people mainly knew the cloth hall (Lakenhal) and the butter hall (Boterhal). Examples of open market halls can still be found in Brittany. Since industrialization began in the 18th century, covered markets for consumer goods have been held in large halls built of steel, glass and concrete for hygienic reasons. In French, such a market hall is called a marché couvert.