Shoppers came to The Cross Roads Market Saturday in an attempt to empty shelves, as they were to be emptied soon after. The vendors were not so happy knowing the day was their storefronts’ last, but that didn’t tarnish the many jovial moments they experienced in past years. P-J photo Andrew David Kuczkowski

WESTFIELD — The Cross Roads Market in Westfield has closed its doors with no plans of reopening any other Saturday. The three-building facility opened Saturdays from May to December and offered a unique shopping atmosphere.

Walking through the double doors and seeing the vast number of vendors is nearly incomparable to a mall setting. The only thing like it is the local County Fair’s mass number of vendors inside the warehouse buildings. But the one-stop shop struggled to continue the cycle of getting new vendors.

“After 19 market seasons, there’s not fresh blood coming in,” said Mark Pouthier, Cross Roads Market manager. “The crafters and artists are not as enthusiastic as they used to be. They don’t want to have a shop of their own or they’re doing something else or the internet is cutting into sales.

“But … the group of us who started this are now 65-plus and because of the lack of interest of attracting new vendors and customers and budget constraints have made it such that we didn’t want to lose the place for not having paid our bills. We wanted to go out on a high note.”

The Cross Roads Market brought many from out of town. It’s niche style was a draw that boosted the Westfield area.

“At our peak, we had about 60,000 visitors a season,” Pouthier added. “… It brought lots of tourists in the summertime. It brought much-needed tax dollars to the town and county because of the property tax we had to pay up here and all of the sales get sales tax on them, so it brought a lot of money to the county.”

The many vendors were packing their inventory on Saturday. Some could not muster a comment on the closing. However, what is lost now is never forgotten.

Bernice Blankenship, who ran Tupperware Home Parties and was a vendor at the market, embellished the fact that there was a bond created within the people of Westfield. One that helped her customers become less about business and more about relations.

“There’s always the conversations with the customers, enjoying hearing about their favorite product or the durability factor,” said Blankenship on the benefits of the vendor experience. “I had someone tell me their Tupperware had survived a tornado. It became conversational. You weren’t just selling and you weren’t just buying.”