The Vanilla Bean Market temporarily closed after the Hays County Judge’s Office notified the owners that the Hays County Historic Courthouse would no longer accommodate them.

Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra sent a notice to Vanilla Bean Market’s owners on March 31 stating the Judge’s Office is reassessing how events are structured and taking a step back from hosting on courthouse grounds based on the overall impact to the courthouse environment.

Co-owners of the Vanilla Bean Market for six years, Cooper Philpot, Texas State alumnus, and David Ixtabalan, civil engineering senior, said the notice was a long time coming due some negative feedback from local businesses and communication issues with the Judge’s Office.

“We used to be able to have a yearly contract with the courthouse, and that’s changed over the past year,” Philpot said. “It’s kind of on a month-to-month basis and the communication has been kind of thinned out for sure.”

For the past year, Vanilla Bean has heard negative feedback from small and local businesses stating that the market is harming their sales, according to Philpot.

“Some of these businesses don’t take us very seriously because we don’t have a brick and mortar and we want them to know, we got to pay rent too, you know, we have bills,” Philpot said. “I think the fact some of them have been saying that [Vanilla Bean] affects their sales and stuff but I mean we’re a business too. We’re a legal business and we don’t think it’s fair.”

Becerra wrote, in a statement to The Star, the county is taking a step back due to concerns regarding the impact to county property, licensing requirements and applicable tax compliances.

“This reassessment is intended to ensure that future use of county property is administered fairly, consistently and in alignment with public benefits and applicable legal requirements,” Becerra wrote.

Philpot said while this is a bump in the road for Vanilla Bean, pride themselves on consistency and building relationships with other businesses. He said he appreciates the market issomething people look forward to.

“This is not the end of Vanilla Bean, it is a bump. We are definitely trying to make something bigger and look at it in the long run,” Ixtabalan said.

Vanilla Bean is a creative market and space for vendors and customers to shop for vintage art, jewelry, food, drinks and everything small business.

“We started the market because we didn’t feel like there was really a space that was dedicated to small businesses as Vanilla Bean is,” Ixtabalan said.

The market is typically held on the second or third Saturday each month at the courthouse, with 85 different rotating vendors.

Ixtabalan said the ongoing pushback and lack of proper communication don’t just affect Vanilla Bean Market, but also the 300 vendors that rely on the market each month.

“It’s been affecting our vendors very dearly. Some of these vendors, this is their only source of income, and these markets are their only opportunities [to showcase their products],” Ixtabalan said.

Andrew “AJ” Rangel Jr., owner of Freeborderpalace, has sold vintage band t-shirts, records, cassettes, VHS and other media for eight years. He said the temporary closure of Vanilla Bean was a gut punch.

“Vanilla Bean has brought a lot of good income into my life. It’s made it to where I can afford rent in one day,” Rangel said. “Thankfully, I have a job, like a full-time job, but I do look forward to Vanilla being every month because it gives me confirmation that even on a bad day, I’ll be able to make my rent.”

Rangel said not only has his business grown from Vanilla Bean, but he also met his girlfriend because of the market.

Natalie Radmall, owner of Current Goods, sells her artwork in the form of stickers, shirts and other goods. She said other markets don’t have the same foot traffic Vanilla Bean has.

“[Philpot and Ixtabalan] were both really encouraging, and they were like ‘yes, come be a part of Vanilla Bean,’ and so a few months after I had started selling on Etsy, I decided to start with the market,” Radmall said. “That really has been the bulk of my business through the market.”

Radmall said the market brings a sense of community and third spaces, where locals can participate in events, local art, music and food that doesn’t have to cost much.

Philpot said they encourage vendors and customers to go to local businesses before or after the market.

“We have heard that [local businesses] book a little bit more employees for that day and that weekend, they get extra inventory for that weekend, and that’s just proof that it is benefiting small businesses around here and local businesses here as well,” Ixtabalan said.

After the county completes its review, the program will be reintroduced. However, Philpot and Ixtabalan said they are also thinking about talking to Texas State about future events.

The Vanilla Bean Market plans on returning with a night market with around 40 vendors from 6 to 11 p.m. on April 25 in front of Native Blends on 309 North Edward Gary St.