The Playground – Joburg’s new weekly rooftop market

Johannesburg city lights will be shining a bit brighter as the city’s freshest market, The Playground launches this week. 

Located in the same space where the Neighbourgoods Market used to be in Braamfontein, the entrepreneur behind the all-including market, Adam Levy has even bigger ambitions for this new venture.

Levy described The Playground to The Citizen as a group of transformers enhancing a community culture in the property space through art, design and innovation. 

Neighbourgoods Market created many great memories for Joburgers and people across the world for nine years, and the market would have marked a decade if it wasn’t for the Covid-19 pandemic.

Levy says the market was a “canvas for multiculturalism, different ethnicities and races”,  a dynamic melting pot of unique people to enact and understand each other’s stories. 

And people who went to Neighbourgoods couldn’t agree more.

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When you think of what a market should be, what makes it tick, it’s the great artisanal food, products, art, music, design and good people.

That is the ethos of The Playground, but with an amplified offering that will also focus on the performance-centred aspect. 

This means the market will be running later in the evening for music sets and performers. 

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Many of the entrepreneurs from Neighbourgoods will be present at The Playground such as the Shawrma Guys and the delectable After Sweets Eats.

Visitors will have a vast amount of vendors, 70 stalls in total.  From catering to the vegans, Asian cuisine, comfort food, raw African sourced goods, to Mexican and much more, Levy says it is important to give entrepreneurs these types of opportunities to showcase their products.

The first designer hub will focus on streetwear brands such as changemakers Grade Africa, Butan, DOPEStore, YAAD and S.W.A.NK.

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Any visit to the inner city comes with anxiety for many, so it is understandable that safety and security is top of mind when going out and about in Braam.

Levy says the area has upgraded its security in the last couple of years to lessen people’s fears. 

Dozens of street poles with cameras have been installed offering 24-hour surveillance and more security personnel have also been recruited.

“We’ve been very mindful about ensuring that these four city blocks are robustly clean [as well],” he added. 

The look and feel of The Playground will be vastly different to that of the Neighbourgoods market.

Think panoramic views of Joburg’s skyline and more painted murals in the market giving it an urban environment and feel.

They are hoping to become the epicentre that Neighbourgoods was for Joburgers and people visiting the city. 

Mark your calendars – Braamfontein’s newly weekly Saturday rooftop market, The Playground, will open on 29 January at 73 Juta Street.

The market will open from 9am to 6pm every Saturday, free to enter for two hours, 9am to 11am. The entry fee is R20 from 11am, payable at the door by card only.