After years of delays and resistance from retailers, Melbourne's wholesale fruit and vegetable market will open in its new location at the end of the month.
The market has operated out of Footscray, in the city's inner west, since 1969 and the relocation had been planned for a decade.
On August 31 the market will open at Epping, in the outer north, about seven years behind schedule.
The decision to move proved controversial with many sellers and buyers objecting to the proposal, but Melbourne Market Authority chief executive Mark Maskiell said all stallholders at Footscray would shift.
The new site is purpose-built and promises to operate more safely and efficiently.
"West Melbourne currently has about 30,000 square metres of warehousing, this market out here has about 85,000 with the capacity to grow," Mr Maskiell said.
This week, stall holders had the opportunity of a final test run at the site before the market opens to trade.
Tenants and buyers had raised concerns about the way the market would operate, from issues like the cost of rents, to how site access would be managed.
Mr Maskiell said the authority would listen to concerns.
"Even though there is change, and on the whole nobody likes change, the market here will operate in a slightly different way than the practices that have evolved over time at West Melbourne and I'm sure the practices will evolve over time here."
