The Chelsea Flea will return to its longtime lot under new lease with Brooklyn Flea founders
Chelsea Flea will return to 29 West 25th Street this April; Map data © 2020 Google
A beloved flea market and antique fair in Chelsea that closed last month will reopen this spring. The Chelsea Flea Market, which first opened in 1976 and attracted antique-lovers and artists like Andy Warhol, is set to return to its original location on West 25th Street in April, but under new management, as Gothamist first reported. Co-founders of Brooklyn Flea, which also runs the market Smorgasburg, Eric Demby and Jonathan Butler, have reached a lease agreement for the parking lot at 29 West 25th Street.
“Our focus is to find as many of the vendors who were selling in Chelsea over the years so we can give them the opportunity to come back,” Demby told Gothamist. “We’re trying to cast as wide a net as possible. We want those folks to remain at the core of the market.”
Last month, Chelsea Flea was closed after the landlord of the lot, Manhattan Parking Group, did not renew the agreement with owner Alan Boss. As 6sqft previously reported, pressure from real estate development has pushed out similar markets in the past. In 1994, Boss opened the Antiques Garage on West 25th Street and it closed in 2014. He opened the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market on 39th Street in 2003; it closed over two years ago.
Vendors at the former flea market were invited to apply for the new market, which will be open on the weekends year-round. Demby told Gothamist the new space will likely include pop-up shops and a “handful of food vendors.”
The Grand Bazaar NYC, one of the city’s longest-running markets, also offered to help displaced vendors following the flea market’s closure. The market told 6sqft last month it is willing to take in about 50 new vintage vendors during its weekly market at its Upper West Side location.
[Via Gothamist]
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