By Will Locascio
If it feels like monopolies are everywhere, it’s because they are,” opens Adam Conover on his podcast Factually with guest Cory Doctorow surrounding “chokepoint capitalism,” also known as monopsony.
A monopsony is a market condition where a single buyer, through means of influence, status, and general market control, dominates over a vast field of sellers, acting as a middleman and influencing the goods that make their way to the forefront of the general public. An example of a prevalent and all reaching monopsony are Amazon and Etsy.
A monopsony is a harmful consequence of free-market capitalism, because it eliminates the principle of supply and demand, creating a setting where the all-powerful buyer can set market prices, norms, and impose their own terms onto sellers. In times such as ours, when monopolies and monopsonies that have been brewing, building wealth, and generating more and more social and economic influence, it is important to keep one’s eye out for opportunities to buy from local sellers and markets.
It is important to insulate ourselves from our reliance on mass manufactured products from foreign workshops and often exceptionally unethical sources.
Even on a nutritional level, a vast majority of the food we eat originates from a monopsony buyer who has an unflinching grip on the price and terms at which produce and meats can be sold. Big Agriculture’s monopsony has added to a volatile job market resulting in fewer jobs, terrible work conditions, low wages, and fragile food supply chain.
The Revolutionist wanted to make a point of spreading the word about The Open Market, a fairly new, online option to buy produce and goods from Western Slope producers.
Created by Jon Hutson, a 35 year old from Olathe. The Open Market is just that, a unified online marketplace and portal for Western Slope growers, farmers, producers, crafts-persons, and artists to sell their products in a more accessible and streamlined service.
This helps Western Slope communities by allowing us to buy local and move away from supporting big box stores and online monopsonies like Amazon while also being a healthier and more eco-friendly way to nourish one’s body and consume products from ethical local sources.
“Directly after the first wave of lockdowns in 2020 I got triggered by the fact that big box stores were open and basically fully operable with only a few restrictions, while a ton of small businesses, artists, and farmers were forced to go out of business. The community’s well-being was getting siphoned out to these corporations, and I’ve been staunchly against big box stores and big government for a long time so it was a definite call to action for me,” said Hutson
Jon explained that The Open Market began as a Facebook group in 2020 consisting of other like minded individuals who were growing concerned for the future and wellbeing of Western Slope food producers, artist, and small businesses.
The Facebook group quickly filled up, but due to the limitations of the platform, Jon soon realized he was going to have to create something bigger in order to have the type of effect that he desired. Hutson began to learn how to create a website from the ground up in 2021. By December of 2023, he had The Open Market up and running. The Open Market already boasts 50 local sellers with an ever growing waitlist.
“I’ve never coded anything before this, worked on a website, or even attempted to start a business,” said Hutson. “But I’ve spent most of my life as a musician, geologist, and a woodworker, so for better or worse I tend to jump headfirst into projects that are out of my league when my heart calls me to it. The easy part has been nerding out on coding and all the web-dev stuff. I picked up on it relatively quickly, and thankfully I started to feel competent with it a couple months before ChatGPT came out, so I’ve also gotten good at delegating coding tasks and troubleshooting AI,” said Hutson.
This was far from the only hoop Jon has had to jump through while in pursuit of social and economic change through The Open Market, he noted that the marketing, networking, and sales aspect has been incredibly tricky for him to get used to, as it simply has never been his forte or focus, until now. He noted the importance of reminding himself to have some grace as he embarks on this learning experience, saying, “My focus is on patiently connecting with people.”
Though relatively new, The Open Market already has an array of products available for purchase from a variety of exciting local vendors. These include, but are not limited to, wagyu beef from the G Force cattle ranch in Delta, freeze dried goods from Juno Farms in Hotchkiss, skin care products from Waar Botanicals in Montrose, and limited edition art prints from Di Reiter Art, a local Grand Junction sketch artist.
As far as the vendor waitlist goes, Jon said it is just a matter of getting those vendors up and running, and simply hinges on him being able to set aside the right amount of time. .
“Signing people up is just me figuring out who they are as a business, what they offer, and their message, then making an individual listings for certain categories of what they sell and making sure that it all redirects back to wherever the seller wants to do business.”
The Open Market is, however, trying to stay away from resellers, emphasizing the importance of quality control and true artists doing important work.
Jon floated the idea of, in the future, creating some a system where all current sellers available on The Open Market go through a brief process of approving and vetting potential new sellers.
Hutson emphasized that he does not want The Open Market to be centered around him, but rather a project rooted in the pursuit of bringing community together, fostering culture, and supporting self-reliance on the Western Slope.
You can learn more about the Open Market later this summer, and meet with vendors and Jon. The Open Market will be hosting an event on August 31st from 2pm-9pm, at the Lowell School, in Downtown Grand Junction. Live music, food trucks, family fun activities and many of the Open Market’s vendors will be there.
The Open Market is available for browsing at theopenmarket.co.
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