(Photo: courtesy of Huddle Today)

A retail market operating out of a trailer in the parking lot of a local seafood restaurant since the start of the pandemic is getting a permanent home.

The 800-square-foot home for the Fisherman’s Corner Seafood Market is under construction at the home of its parent company, Skipper Jack’s Maritime Restaurant.

The work, being carried out by TriCity Windows & Renovations, is expected to wrap in about three or four months.

“We are hoping to have construction completed [and] the retail portion opened prior to Christmas,” said Nikki Rawlines, a marketing coordinator for Skipper Jack’s. “We are also currently supplying several local restaurants with their seafood on a wholesale basis.”

The seafood market was launched in December 2020 and has operated in a refrigerated trailer in the parking lot of Skipper Jack’s, at 211 Mapleton Road, since. The market sells seafood to the general public and to several local restaurants on a wholesale basis.

To accommodate the new retail space, parking is at a premium in that part of the city and is being reconfigured.

Rawlines said the previous configuration had one entrance on Mapleton and two entrances on Hopper Street. It will be changed with the Mapleton access closed off, allowing for four or five additional parking spaces.

“Adjusting this access has also drastically improved the flow (and) congestion in the lot,” said Rawlines.

The addition of a market to the 72-seat restaurant space comes about eight years after Skipper Jack’s restaurant was rebuilt and renovated after a fire closed it for eight months in 2014, upgrading from a smaller takeout joint to a sit-down-style restaurant.

Skipper Jacks first opened in 2004, and while most of its revenue now comes from sit-down dining, the company has stayed true to its roots, offering takeout as well.

Skipper Jacks, known for selling seafood sourced from local suppliers across the Maritimes – including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and others – sells a variety of dishes, including fish and chips, seafood chowder, lobster rolls, and fish tacos.

Rawlines noted that the partnerships Skipper Jack’s has formed with local producers have “opened the door and allowed the growth of many great partnerships.”

Fisherman’s Corner retails and wholesales an array of seafood including Bay of Fundy lobster and scallops, shrimp, haddock, cod and halibut, and takes orders on specifically requested items, like sushi-grade tuna and swordfish.

Fisherman’s corner also carries specialty products like its in-house-made Blissfield Candy smoked salmon and Captain Good Buoys dehydrated haddock dog treats.

Sam Macdonald is a Reporter for Huddle Today, a content-sharing partner of Acadia Broadcasting