VALDOSTA — A Downtown Valdosta business re-opens today with the same name but a new owner, a new look and the hope of attracting a new clientele.

City Market keeps its location at 101 N. Patterson St., at the corner of Patterson and West Hill Avenue, but new owner Jessica Newman has filled the store with new merchandise, a new menu, a new look and a new venue, while maintaining a touch of the City Market which downtown visitors have come to know during the past few years.

While the exterior and logo of City Market look the same from the city street, it’s a whole new City Market inside.

Thomasville’s Ally B has opened a boutique with the latest in fashion and clothing within the spaces of City Market’s street-level floor.

With newly-installed walls and partitions, there is a feel of several shops within City Market. There are handbags, shoes, numerous accessories, gift baskets, kitchen ware and items, home décor, a bath section, with future plans for other sections, such as linens, and more merchandise scheduled to arrive in the weeks to come. Monogramming is available.

The old City Market had the feel of a bazaar, or flea market, Newman says, while with her new City Market, she is seeking the feel of an intimate department store.

Gone from City Market are many of the hand-made crafts, knick-knacks, used books and other used items that were once displayed throughout the first floor. Newman has maintained City Market’s dedication to local artists by keeping a corner to display local artists and the framing shop, while exhibiting numerous artists’ works near the ceiling on walls throughout the store. City Market will continue hosting a featured artist each month, starting with Cindy Davis, but on the first floor. What was City Market’s second-floor Loft Gallery is gone.

The second floor is being renovated into a rental hall. In the coming weeks, Newman plans to have a hall, with full kitchen, etc., ready to rent for receptions, meetings, socials, and other events. Future First Fridays will feature bands on the second floor.

Today’s First Friday events will continue on the street-level floor of City Market, with Valdosta-based band Crossroads performing. The café will serve a low-country boil as a special menu item for each First Friday, providing a quick dinner for First Friday participants on the move.

The café has also expanded its menu from the past City Market fare of Chicago-style hot dogs to a wider range of hot dog styles and toppings, along with nachos, chicken salad, pasta salad, etc., as well as soft drinks and beers.

Though the business has changed, Jessica Newman knows the importance of a name, while she is no stranger to Downtown Valdosta.

The daughter of Jerry and Kim Newman, her family owns Jessie’s Eats and Treats, a downtown business named for Jessica Newman, who is known by both Jessie and Jessica to family and friends. Side effects of having a business named for you, though operated by parents, is that many people assume Jessica owns Jessie’s since her picture has run with The Valdosta Daily Times newspaper ads for Eats and Treats for years, while several customers assume that Kim Newman is Jessie to a point where Kim now answers to Jessie.

But City Market is Jessica Newman’s, the new owner of a new business with a familiar name.

City Market’s hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Closed Sundays and Mondays. The business re-opens this morning and throughout the day and evening for Downtown Valdosta’s First Friday. See vdtview.com for more on this evening’s First Friday events.