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Home Court Habits: The Secret to Effortless Weight Control
10 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight When You Think You’re Doing Everything Right
How To Burn More Calories Without Breaking A Sweat
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Foodists
Introducing Mercado: The Official Summer Tomato Farmers Market Bag
I’m beside myself with excitement that the official Summer Tomato farmers market bag, Mercado, from Quirky Inc. is finally here!
It was nearly a year ago that I presented the Quirky design community with my farmers market problem. The issue when you buy ripe, seasonal produce from your local farmers market is that it’s extremely juicy and delicate, making it nearly impossible to get home safely in any standard soft bag. I had been using two bags and carrying tuppers and lids to help protect my most delicate items, but I knew there was a better way.
Quirky member Peter Wachtel created the winning design, and it is both cool and functional. A large compartment on the inner half of the bag holds your bigger, sturdier produce like kale, onions and cauliflower.
The outer half of the bag is composed of two smaller pockets made from a soft nylon mesh, which is held open and rigid by a wire frame. This prevents the sides of the bag from collapsing in and bruising softer items.
In addition there are several small pockets lining the inside of the nylon compartments that are ideal for cradling your most delicate items like peaches, pears and tomatoes.
The bag has a wide, adjustable strap and two deep side pockets that are ideal for your wallet, keys and shopping list. The outer parts of the bag are made from a thick, durable canvas that is attractive and comfortable.
I’m totally in love.
Mercado is currently in the presale stage. The way Quirky works is that a product must collect a minimum number of orders before it goes into official production. If you place your order(s) now you’ll get the bag for a discounted price of $19.99.
It will retail at $24.99, so you’ll save some cash by ordering early. Obviously you won’t be charged unti the bag actually goes into production.
Lastly, you can earn 10% on any sales you refer to Quirky for the bag. Just use the referral link they give you when you click “Spread the word and earn 10% on sales!” Help us get the bag made and make some money in the process. Woohoo!
Thanks for your support!
AWESOME!!!!! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!! just went shopping today and that bag could have come in handy. proud of you!
For those asking, they didn’t let me take the bag all the way home (this was just the prototype), but my peaches and tomatoes did make it through the entire photo shoot, which was actually pretty brutal. I even had a melon in there, so I’m impressed!
Great Bag Darya, turned out Amazing!
Agreed! Thanks for your help. I was blown away by its awesomeness when I got to use it. Can’t wait until mine comes. I think I want 2 🙂
My pleasure… I got a few for friends & family… Mercado is doing Great- over 410 have sold in 1 Day! Keep up the great things you do!
This is awesome! I love the idea!!
love the winning name
Do you know if the bag is machine-washable?
They said they would do some testing and get back to me. My guess is hand washing will be the best option, but we’ll see.
Asking what Kerry asked: washability is key to long-term reuse of a bag like this. Metal wire framing would be an impediment unless it can be removed for washing.
I’ve emailed them and am waiting for an answer.
Great. This looks otherwise like a terrific bag. I’d like one for each shoulder….
Totally, I’m getting 2.
I’ve been looking forward to hearing updates about these! It looks great. I’m definitely ordering one next payday. Our Farmer’s Market season is really short here in Northern Nevada but I plan to use this bag when I visit my local co-op, farms or the grocery store.
I agree, especially since here more and more places are charging for paper/plastic bags. I imagine that trend will be spreading.
Bought mine! I’d be okay with washing this by hand, but if you find out that it is machine washable, please let us know!
Will do!
Woohoo! Ordering done. Now just have to get up to the production level …
Woohoo! Thanks!
HAHAHA my husband is sad now because he totally thought this was his idea and he was going to make millions. Fantastic idea, I’m definitely buying! I hope they ship to Australia!
On an additional note (and you may want to add this to the original article), not only do you get 10% for referrals, but, the way Quirky works, if you order during the presale phase (and go through with the purchase once it is in production and shipping), you actually get a small (usually very small, but, if they sell a lot, that can still add up) ongoing percentage of sales of that product, forever.
That’s awesome, didn’t realize that.
I think the pickpocket comment was on the pocket where your wallet was… your wallet was actually sticking out a little bit even as you grabbed for it. I don’t think anyone is worrying about someone pickpocketing some tomatoes 😉
My wallet is abnormally long, and it did fit in there comfortably (I had taken it in and out several times for that shot, so it might not have been all the way in). When I saw the design I was worried about pickpockets too, but after I used it I was fine with it.
Looks neat but I’m having a hard time judging the approximate capacity on the bag based on the pictures. Would I be able to get things like several pounds of tomatoes and several pounds of ripe peaches and have a place to put them all?
Probably not several pounds of each, though the bag was larger than I expected (and the section for soft produce will be even larger in the final product than is shown here–that was my suggestion). That being said, shoppers who buy a lot of food every week (like me), might want 2 bags. I ordered 2 for myself 🙂
Placed my order! 🙂 Can’t wait for production to start!
Pickpocket-friendly design!
The pockets are really deep, they’d have to stick their whole arm in there.
Just ordered one for my wife. Always wondered how you pronounced your name. Now I know.
Haha, yep it’s pretty phonetic. Thanks for ordering, I can’t wait until these are in production!
517 (out of 1500) have sold in 5 Days! Hope this will be in production soon!
Is that a lot? I haven’t even emailed my list yet.
E-mail your lists Mercado is more than half way there!
Got mine on order. Love it and I would think my wallet would either be in my purse or in the big pocket at the bottom, so no worries on pickpockets.
I ordered 25 for gifts. These really make an eco-statement. The price is right too. Thanks for the contest.
Awesome, thanks!!
Is Peter the greatest or what! I’ll be writing a post this week, and spreading the info to the whole mom blogger universe. Can’t wait to get my hands on my Mercado. Could totally use this at Central Market and Whole Foods too. Love the wine loop.
Mercado is almost half way there!
I’m wondering if I am missing something here. I went to place my order for a few bags and I don’t see it available anymore to do so. I see on the quirky website that they are “making it”, so does that mean we need to wait to purchase it? I was on their site a few weeks ago and there was an option to place your order once it went into production, but guessing now that it is in production I just need to wait.
Any idea when they’ll be available to purchase? I want to order a few.
Very soon!
Mercado is Featured in Inventors Digest! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=239663529436004&set=a.206893936046297.52113.156672527735105&type=1&theater
Nice. It will also be featured in the SF Chronicle on Jan 1. We did a photo shoot yesterday at the farmers market 🙂
Mercado Farmer’s Market Bag in the SF Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/01/HO9H1MH2IK.DTL&ao=all
what happened to the bag. I purchased 2 and havent heard a word.
From what I’ve heard it’s coming very soon! There were some materials delays but it should be any day now. You got a great deal with your pre-orders because they’ll likely retail for more than we anticipated, and of course your pre-ordered price is guaranteed. I’m excited too!
Is there any word on this? I missed the preorder deadline when I was out of the country, but I’ve been checking quirky every few weeks and it looks like nothing has changed…
Yes, I actually just asked them. They are in the final stages of testing and things are going really well. They estimated mid-April if everything goes smoothly. Sorry it is taking so long, we just want a great product.
dp
Mercado Featured in the WSJ! http://blogs.wsj.com/runway/2011/11/14/close-up-mercado-farmers-market-bag-for-1114/?mod=google_news_blog
Wow! I’d love one of those bags! 🙂 Do they ship internationally?
I believe so, but you can double check on the Quirky site to be sure.
Darya, did you ever find out how the bag can be washed?
Machine wash.
Is the bag for sale or did it go away with quirky? Sad if it did because it looks great
It went away with Quirky, unfortunately. That said I may have access to some leftover inventory at some point. Best way to stay informed is by subscribing to Summer Tomato.
Cheers,
Darya