Chattanooga Mercantile to Open Aug. 1

The old East Ridge Flea Market has undergone a transformation in recent months and will now become home to Chattanooga Mercantile.

About 300 vendors have been busy getting their booths together inside the enormous building at 6725 Ringgold Road. The new owners told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the remodeling of the building is complete and due to open on Aug. 1.

Chattanooga Mercantile will feature a wide array of vendors; everything from boutique clothing to a coffee shop and bakery.

The property consists of eight acres. The new owners, Luke Stewart and Steve Watts, said they would eventually like to use the expanse of land to host an outdoor market and other events.

To learn more about Chattanooga Mercantile you can visit its Facebook page.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.