Several downtown shops trace their roots to the market house at 34 W. Philadelphia St., including some that recently expanded with their own standalone businesses.

York-based natural baby and early childhood products store Growing Up Green started as an organic and heirloom vegetable plants stand in Central Market in spring 2007, owner Heather Klinefelter said.

The business last fall moved into its own space at 266 W. Market St. after morphing into a regional seller of cloth diapers, American-made toys, natural child health care products and other items, she said.

Klinefelter's stand began because she had plants left over from her gardening hobby; it is unlikely it would have become what it is today without having the market serve as a springboard, she said.

Central Market is a great place to meet different kinds of people, provides friendly hours for a stay-at-home mom and is affordable for a startup, Klinefelter said.

York-based Just Cupcakes also started in Central Market and still occupies space there in addition to a relatively new storefront and café at 9 W. Philadelphia St., owner Sarah Koveleski said.

It's hard to tell whether she and her mother, Christine Martin, could have grown the business to what it is today without the market, Koveleski said.

But as a person who generally is averse to taking huge risks, the market provided a way to more safely put her toe in the water to pursue a small business, she said.

Central Market provided overhead costs that were low enough that Just Cupcakes did not have to take out a loan or go into the red as it built clientele, Koveleski said.

"It really allows small businesses to take a risk without feeling overwhelmed," she said.

But the transition from a strictly market-based business hasn't been completely seamless, Koveleski said. There is a bit of a learning curve as customers acclimate themselves to the new place and get to know new services, she said.

"This has been like we've started anew again because we've changed locations," Koveleski said.

The market serving as a downtown business incubator is nothing new.

Melissa Grove, owner of Sweet Melissa's Dream, moved her home-based business more than a decade ago to Central Market, where her family has a long history in the produce-selling business.

She shared space at first with two other proprietors where Mudhook Brewing Co. now is, and then she moved a few other times before settling in at a standalone storefront at 51 N. Beaver St., Grove said.

"I don't think our booth cost more than $300 (a month), and we were splitting it," she said.

It's a great way to help build clientele from people who are drawn to other attractions housed in the market, Grove said. She said she recommends it to any young people who walk into her store interested in starting up their own business in the market district.

For Growing Up Green, growth from a market stand into a standalone store was a product of circumstance instead of design.

Shortly after it started as just a little side business, Klinefelter lost her position in marketing. It was then that she decided to make the market stand her primary job, she said.

Growing products at home and "making my husband crazy with windows full of tomato plants" grew to subcontracting with a local nursery as business increased, Klinefelter said.

But plants are seasonal and there was little way to make the stand a year-round endeavor without diversifying, she said.

Klinefelter also had grown tired of buying natural family products off the Internet, and she said she figured there would be a market among similarly minded families for a local store specializing in such items.

Eventually, what has become Growing Up Green outgrew the market space, Klinefelter said.

The new standalone location also has become a regional attraction; last week it drew customers from the Chambersburg and State College areas, she said. Growing Up Green also now offers family activities at the West Market Street store, Klinefelter said.

However, the market is far from forgotten. It's a second home for her family, including 5-year-old Finn and 2-year-old Liam. Her sons accompanied her to market beginning in their earliest days, Klinefelter said.

Just Cupcakes also is diversifying at the standalone café and bakery space it moved into last fall with soups, baked lunch items such as quiche, macaroni and cheese, and 6-inch cakes, Koveleski said.

The business decided to move as it outgrew its market space and also because it sought out a climate-controlled environment more conducive to baking, she said.

But to really make the standalone café idea work, they figured they needed to expand the menu, Koveleski said.

The business also is open until 9 p.m. on some days to establish Just Cupcakes as a dessert and coffee spot for downtown restaurant patrons after their meals, with the potential to stay open later, she said.

Live music and rotating art displays also are in the works, Koveleski said.

She joked, "Our name is little deceiving right now."