Two woman shop at Treasures and Pleasures Estate Jewelry at the Brooklyn Flea in Dumbo yesterday.
Merchants count on flea feedback
Whether artsy or corporate, sellers use markets to watch buyers’ habits
A guide to new flea markets
The Brooklyn Flea
“You can get Balenciaga in one corner and a $20coffee table in another,” said co-founder Eric Demby referring to the spectrum of highly curated goods. Saturdays in Fort Greene, Sundays in Dumbo.
Coney Island’s Festival by the Sea
Will be catering to a “beach crowd,” says Digna Rodriguez-Pouten, so you won’t find furniture there. Opens Friday and will run Thursdays through Mondays.
Artists & Fleas’ Market in McCarren
Organizer Ronen Glimer says, “There’s nothing flea, nothing vintage. It’s only artists and handmade things.” Saturdays
Williamsburg Flea Market
Looking for vintage home furnishings, clothes, crafts, books, and record vendors for its June opener. Wythe Avenue and South Third Street. Sundays.
Park Slope Flea Market
Will have more bargain basement goods thanthe Brooklyn Flea, which manager Mohammad Toom referred to as more a “boutique than a flea.” In the Al-Noor School parking lot on 20th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues. Weekends.
Kim Grassie would one day like to launch her own handbag company. For now, she’s content to sell her Tinyhearts Designs on Saturdays from a $80 “booth” in McCarren Park.
“This is a great place to test out prices and see how people react,” said Grassie. She noticed that her $15 “wristlet” purses were selling like hotcakes at Saturday’s Market in McCarren, an offshoot of Williamsburg’s 6-year-old indoor Artists & Fleas.
“I take everything I learn here and apply it to my online store.”
Flea markets popping up around Brooklyn are becoming incubators for artists and designers with dreams of running their own businesses.
“Creative people can’t go and open a store in SoHo anymore,” said Digna Rodriguez-Pouton, creative director of Coney Island’s upcoming Festival by the Sea.
“It’s the rebirth of creativity and going back to business and doing it yourself.”
Besides vendors looking for immediate feedback, Rodriguez-Pouton noted that Festival by the Sea organizer Thor Equities, which runs several malls, will also be paying close attention.
“There will be a lot of studying of the consumer,” she said. “I think we’ll have a tremendous insight for the malls we run.”
“You can’t negotiate at Forever 21,” said Emily Tiderington, 28, who bought a bikini at the McCarren market for $40, knocking $10 off the asking price.
“I don’t want to negotiate too far down,” she added. “Artists deserve to get paid, too.”
