Problem
It is natural and convenient to want a market where all the different foods and household goods you need can be bought under a single roof. But when the market has a single management, like a supermarket, the foods are bland, and there is no joy in going there.
Solution
Instead of modern supermarkets, establish frequent marketplaces, each one made up of many smaller shops which are autonomous and specialized (cheese, meat, grain, fruit, and so on). Build the structure of the market as a minimum, which provides no more than a rood, columns which define aisles, and basic services. Within this structure allow the different shops to create their own environment, according to their individual taste and needs.
Related Patterns
… we have a proposed that shops be widely decentralized and placed in such a way that they are most accessible to the communities which use them — Web of Shopping (19). The largest groups of shops are arranged to form pedestrian streets or Shopping Street (32) which will almost need a market to survive. This pattern describes the form and economic character of markets.
Make the aisles wide enough for small delivery carts and for a a dense throng of pedestrians — perhaps 6 to 12 feet wide — Building Thoroughfare (101); keep the stalls extremely small so that the rent is low — perhaps no more than six by nine feet — Individually Owned Shops (87); define the stalls with columns at the corners only — Columns at the Corners (212); perhaps even let the owners make roofs for themselves — Canvas Roofs (244); connect the aisles with the outside so that the market is a direct continuation of the pedestrian paths in the city just around it — Pedestrian Street (100) …
Alexander, Christopher. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 246.