Brooklyn Flea: Time Lapse
Thanks to all the vendors and visitors who came out to the inaugural Brooklyn Flea yesterday. By some miracle, it didn’t rain and the day went off without a hitch. While some of them were double-counts to be sure, the security guard at the door clicked off 20,000 entries into the market throughout the day….
Thanks to all the vendors and visitors who came out to the inaugural Brooklyn Flea yesterday. By some miracle, it didn’t rain and the day went off without a hitch. While some of them were double-counts to be sure, the security guard at the door clicked off 20,000 entries into the market throughout the day. Insane. We’ll have more candids up later in the day. If you took photos, please put them up on Flickr and tag with “brooklynflea”; if you a post a big Flickr set, please email us with a link. We also want to hear your feedback about vendor mix and other suggestions. Obviously we need more food; unfortunately dealing with the Department of Health isn’t exactly a simple and transparent process, but we’re working on it. Personally, we want to see more furniture and classic category-killers like antique silver and old watches; maybe a little less new jewelry and arts-and-crafty stuff. This first month will be a gradually tweaking and culling process, so please throw in your two cents.
7:00 a.m.
8:15 a.m.
8:35 a.m.
9:35 a.m.
10:15 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
12:00 p.m.
13:15 p.m.
3:00 p.m.
4:30 p.m.
5 p.m.
5:15 p.m.
5:40 p.m.
6:20 p.m.
seemed cool but I could only do a quick buzz through while the wife held our dog outside.
A suggestion
I am an old junk collector from back in the pre Ebay day .
Do to Ebay ,Flea markets are not going to be what they once were . I did go on sunday and had a wonderful time enjoying the day and people . I even found a treasure . I will go again because it is a great way to spend a Sunday morning,and I always have the faint vision of finding my own Holy Grail.
I suggest that the management set up a consignment booth . A place where folks that want to deaccession items can drop them off , pay a slight commission upon the sale . This will insure a constant flow of “good stuff ” allow folks to get rid of stuff that are not Ebay savvy . I can assure you it will be a very closely monitored booth .
Thanks for all your work ,
Give it time it will grow .
Steve of Gowanus
I thought for a first go it was pretty great. I agree with lots of the above re: vendors, I personally was disappointed that there was no big lot of used books to pick through. But as others have said, I think those things will sort themselves out.
I’m not sure I agree with the people calling for a strictly “old-school” flea market – part of the appeal of this Flea was that I thought that since it was Web-driven, and theoretically reaching an expanded audience, it would have more of a Flea 2.0 feel. Which I think it sort of did, but if 2.0 means jewelry and kid clothes out the wazoo, then yes, a better balance needs to be struck.
I’d also disagree with the comment above about this being a “white monied” event. Yes there were plenty of pale faces in North Face jackets, but I actually thought the crowd when I was there (1-2pm) was everything good about Brooklyn: every color of the rainbow, young, old, hipster, regular folk, etc. I have to admit that I have been down on Brooklyn lately, but seeing all stripes of people together yesterday made me feel better.
Thanks, Brownstoner! Looking forward to more Sundays…
I loved that the market turned my neighborhood into a circus! It was so great to see all the people enjoying the neighborhood and supporting local businesses. The sidewalks of DeKalb were lively all day!
Furnuture furniture furniture! That was the best part about the Chelsea flea markets… people would show up at 5AM just for the opportunity to buy the choicest vintage Danish items before they even got off the truck. If you’re able to attract more used furniture vendors, this flea market has the potential to one of those “only in New York” destinations. Best of luck toy you!
It was great fun, I was there for a couple of hours looking at all the stuff. I agree with everyone else–fewer onesies, please. I like the mix of new & old, so more old would be better but some of the new craftsy stuff is nice to have. Especially those who re-fashion old items into something new–very impressed with the woman who recovers old chairs with modern fabrics.
yes, you need more food–perhaps on the outside of the schoolyard–but you also need more COFFEE (it was freezing yesterday)–how about letting the coffee bean sellers also sell by the cup?
_sarcasm_
I have to agree with the naysayers, If you can’t please everyone all of the time, Why do you even try?
_/sarcasm_
good effort. I’m sure in the coming weeks people will wise up.
Thanks for turning my neighborhood into an absolute circus. I had to wait in like for 20 minutes to get an effing bagel at bagel world. For someone who cries about things that are out of scale for neighborhoods on a daily basis – I personally think your 20,000 person flea market is out of scale with the quiet area of Fort Greene you’ve set up shop in.
I guess if you’re not in the market for a silk screened onesie, you’ll have to learn to “flea” the neighborhood on Sundays.
– Annoyed FG Resident
Seemed like there was an over abundance of onesies. I would have appreciated more furniture both old and reclaimed. With too much new stuff, it seemed like a trade show instead of a flea market.