The Cargo Shed will reopen its doors this Saturday after the keys to the council owned shed were handed over to the new managers.

New leaseholders – the stallholders collective – were officially given the keys by council's property leasing coordinator Jenny Robertson on Monday morning in a low-key event marking a milestone for the collective.

Cargo Shed Collective Kathy Sass gets the keys to the Cargo Shed.

Council decided in June to hand over the next year's lease of the shed to the collective as opposed to the previous managers Creative Tauranga after both parties presented future business shed options.

It came after months of disagreement between the previous leaseholders and stallholders over the management and marketing of the shed.

In April stallholders were issued with letters of notice giving them until May 31 to vacate the shed when their leases expired.

At the time Creative Tauranga CEO Tracey Rudduck-Gudsell said the current platform wasn't working and the arts organisation was looking to take the shed in a new direction.

Cargo Shed Collective manager Kathy Sass told SunLive stallholders are excited and positive about the future of the shed.

'It was indeed a humbling experience. We want to prove to their critics that their [TCC's] decision was the right one, we do not want to let them down” says Kathy.

'We have the rest of the winter to get the shed up to standard and will be having the grand opening of the new look shed at the beginning of October. In the meantime, we will be open from this weekend and every weekend thereafter for business as usual.”

Kathy thanked the stallholders and chairman Jim Pringle for their continued support and dedication to obtaining council's confidence.

There are only four permanent stalls available in the shed for new stallholders and Kathy says interest for them is high.

'There are temporary spaces available on a casual basis too. There are also two stalls dedicated to products being sold on behalf of artists and craftspeople who do not want to sell their own products. The arts market has a very favourable commission structure.”

Anyone interested in joining this exciting venture is encouraged to contact Kathy at the shed on weekends or email her at kathy.sass@xtra.co.nz .

Meanwhile members of the public are invited to visit the shed every weekend ahead of the grandopening in October.