Where Rice's Market Regulars Go After Its Last Tuesday
"The tables were often filled all the way to the tree line," Mike Barnes told the Bucks County Courier Times. He has sold old tools, keys and other antique collectibles at Rice's since 1974. "Some people would come on a Monday and camp out overnight to be here in the morning. I thought it would be here forever."
It won't be. Rice's Sale & Country Market at 6326 Greenhill Road posted on Oct. 6 that it will close for good, and its last day is Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2026. For decades, two fixed mornings a week had one dependable answer on Greenhill Road. After December, nothing nearby fills that slot on its own. The routine survives only if you split it up.
Rice's says it will keep its normal schedule to the end. That means every Tuesday and Saturday, plus Black Friday. From Thursday, Nov. 5, that leaves these market days:
That adds up to 17 mornings. Black Friday matters most. PhillyVoice notes it has historically been the market's busiest day of the year, and this year's will be the last one.
Check the hours before you go. The Rice's homepage lists 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. The market's FAQ page says 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and also says many vendors start packing up around 1. In practice, the market winds down around one o'clock. Parking is $1, according to the same FAQ. WFMZ mentions extra Black Friday hours but doesn't give them, so the market's own page is the place to watch that week.
Rice's could anchor two mornings a week because it has spent more than a century gathering things into one spot. The market's own history starts in the spring of 1860, when A.L. Rice settled on the Solebury farm and began auctioning his own goods and his neighbors'. Farmers soon brought cattle and farm goods to sell there too. By the 1950s, a market had been added to the Tuesday livestock auctions. It grew to more than 400 vendors from across the Northeast, selling, in the market's words, "everything from antiques to zucchini." Rice's calls itself the oldest and largest outdoor market in Bucks County, with more than 8,000 shoppers a week.
PhillyVoice reports that the property covers about 30 acres of former farmland. The Rice family sold it in 1982, and Robert and Barbara Blanche have run the market since then. In their closing statement, quoted by PhillyVoice, the owners described the place as "an incubator for side hustles and small businesses," where "many grew from a small table or booth here into thriving businesses of their own."
That description explains what happens next. Rice's held produce, antiques, prepared food, crafts and home goods in one place. Each of those now needs its own stop.
The owners gave only a broad reason. They said the market and the economy had changed over the last few years. WFMZ reported that the Blanches had watched more people turn to online sources for valuables, and vendors told the station that customer numbers had dropped. PhillyVoice says the owners have not announced plans for the property.
Vendors learned the news on a Tuesday morning, when market staff handed each of them a letter, the Courier Times reported. Their plans vary, and they show where some of the Rice's experience will carry on.
| Vendor | What it sold or offered | After Dec. 29 |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet Annie | A family business June Brauer's mother started about 45 years ago | Brauer told the Courier Times she and her husband, Charles, will probably retire |
| Wickey Wackey Wicker World | Wicker, sold by owner Wanda Detweiler | Continues at its permanent storefront in Perkasie |
| Supa Thai | Takeout run by chef Supa DeRose | Takeout ends; DeRose plans to keep teaching cooking classes, keep running culinary tours and add pop-up dinners |
For Supa Thai regulars, the Supa Thai site describes in-person and online cooking classes and a small-group culinary trip to Thailand. Its contact page still lists the Rice's address. "I've really enjoyed it here and have met so many people," DeRose told the Courier Times.
The owners ended their statement with advice: "Find the local business and buy from them, stop at the farm stand, visit the independent shop, hire the person who turned their hobby into a business." Taken literally, it maps onto a few places close to Greenhill Road. None of them opens on Rice's days at Rice's hours.
Golden Nugget Antique Flea Market, 1850 River Road in Lambertville, is the closest flea-market substitute. Its site lists year-round operation, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Saturday browsing moves across the river with little change. Tuesday browsing has to move to Wednesday.
Solebury Orchards Market, 3325 Creamery Road, opens Thursday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in November and December. From January through April 26, it opens on Saturdays only, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. That keeps Saturday produce on the calendar after Rice's closes.
Spring Creek Farm, 6262 Meetinghouse Road, is the one nearby stop that stays open on Tuesdays. Its farm shop is open Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the farm advertises produce and meat year-round. Anyone used to a 7 a.m. start at Rice's will find the Tuesday morning starts three hours later.
The seasonal markets don't help much this winter. The Doylestown Farmers Market on South Hamilton Street runs Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and its 2026 season ends Nov. 21. The Wrightstown Farmers Market at 576 Penns Park Road runs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon, and its site describes the main season as May through Thanksgiving. The Lambertville Farmers Market, a Sunday market in the library lot at 6 Lilly Street, has finished for the year and returns in May 2027, according to its site.
Here is how the week looks in January, once Rice's is gone:
| Day | Open nearby in January | Compared with Rice's |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Spring Creek Farm, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | Starts three hours later; farm goods only |
| Wednesday | Golden Nugget, 6 a.m.–4 p.m. | Flea-market browsing, one day later |
| Friday | Spring Creek Farm, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | Farm goods |
| Saturday | Golden Nugget; Spring Creek Farm; Solebury Orchards | The closest match to a Rice's Saturday, split across three addresses |
| Sunday | Golden Nugget, 6 a.m.–4 p.m. | No Rice's equivalent |
Saturday comes through in decent shape, as long as you're willing to drive between a flea market on River Road and farm shops on Creamery and Meetinghouse Roads. Tuesday at 7 a.m. has no replacement. That early weekday slot was something only Rice's offered, from the livestock auctions of the 1950s through this fall.
Between now and Dec. 29, the 17 remaining mornings are the last chance to shop with the vendors who are retiring, to pick up a Supa Thai order before the takeout window closes, and to see Greenhill Road busy before 7 on a Tuesday.
Our team at Kim Porter Homes has spent more than two decades in Bucks County, and the places that make up a neighbor's weekly routine are part of how we know it. If you're working out how your own week in New Hope or Solebury will change after Rice's closes, or what comes next for your home, Let's Connect.
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