Market Days

Most people in this day and age just go to the store when they need things.  They don't know about having to grow their own food, shearing their own sheep to weave cloth, or having to walk miles to get that one item which you just can't make or grow.  On my world, and a, lot of fantasy realms, the supermarket is an open air market.  This market might be a place with permanent stalls or just an open space that tents go up once a week.  Most markets are held in cities to sell food or cloth to people who can't grow or make such things.  But small villages and towns also have a market day on a regular schedule to trade goods they can't grow or can't make as well as some one else.

In the city, markets are usually open everyday with lots of fresh food during the summer and more fresh meat during the winter.  Remember, fresh fruit and vegetables during the winter doesn't happen in the fantasy world unless mages have developed some magic to store them like we do with freezers, and importing from the other side of the world doesn't work like it does on our world.  Speciality items like woven blankets, carved items, and trinkets are common in city markets, but most things like thread, cloth, weapons and boots can be found in stores nearby.

In country markets the markets are usually only open once a week, to trade food one family has plenty of and some other family doesn't grow well.  Items that one person can make well are often traded for items another can make well.  Often these markets might occur when a traveling merchant with iron implements or ribbon and thread comes through town.  Such things are usually treated like a festival of sorts and people get together to eat and socialize.