I usually like to take a 5 minute walk around the Brooklyn Flea on Sundays to look for designers who create home furnishings out of reclaimed materials. I did see a ton of new vendors there selling great antiques, but I didn’t take any photos. I will tell you this: The flea is becoming more of a draw for antiques and vintage dealers.
Unfortunately for some of those vendors (me), people are buying the smaller “junk” items more than larger furniture. Another vendor was kvetching to me at the end of the day how he has to schlepp all this stuff back to his house, which is too full to begin with. I hear ya, fella! My storage space is filled floor to ceiling and next week my new items will be going into my living room once again.
Don’t get me wrong. I sell the little junk too. I can earn a few hundred from items under $50. But I’d like to be able to do well with the furniture too. I’d like to empty my storage unit so I can get some fresh inventory.
The market is still in it’s infancy and perhaps it’s not a destination yet for serious furniture buyers or antiques collectors. Or perhaps the economy is just kicking everyone’s asses. I was speaking with another vendor who did Columbus Avenue last week only to break even. And she’s been in the business for years.
In any case, I’m going to do an experiment next weekend. I’ll swing for a double space and put out only the big stuff. I can’t fit many pieces of furniture in my 10×10 booth, so the few chairs and end tables I put out have smaller items displayed on top of them. And if more than 3 people are under my tent, it’s too crowded for others to fit in. So before I lay blame on cheap people, bad weather and holidays, I’d like to see if the fault lies within myself.
I’ll keep you posted!
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I’m with you, rh! My dining room looks like a warehouse, and my cats think I’ve built the best perch maze they have ever seen. Lots of fun spaces to hide in and sit on top of. How nice for them.
Seriously, in several conversations with friends, we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a combination of the economy and an expectation that everything at this market should be under $10. Maybe only time can alter that expectation. we’ve been bringing in anything we think we can sell, which isn’t helping us to get a consistant look or product signature, but we need to make money. I’m still committed to the market, it’s still very new, and the weather hasn’t helped, and you can’t judge anything by Mother’s Day. It was pretty crowded, but not a lot of buying, just strolling. It’s amazing how many people can walk past your booth and not even glance inside. But to be fair, I probably do the same thing at booths that don’t have anything I would be interested in.
Comment by Silver Nest — May 12, 2008 @ 9:58 am
I’ve walked past your booth on the 2 occasions I’ve been to the fleamarket and wanted to go in because I do read your web site. It’s always been to crowded for me. So, maybe limiting it to only the big stuff will chase away the trinket buyers and allow the serious furniture buyers in.
However, I do have to say that I’ve always bought major antiques at shows by spying what I want, deciding what I’d pay, and negotiating for that price at the end of the show. That way I get the best price I can and the seller doesn’t have to take it home and knows that’s ‘as much as the market will bear’. Maybe your prices are too high and you should tell people to make an offer.
Comment by whatever — May 12, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
Good point. The larger space will be more inviting. And I can fit more than 2 or 3 pieces of furniture!
My stuff may have been priced too high the first day, but I’ve seen how people at that market spend (or rather, don’t) and I’m always willing to negotiate. I even have it posted that “we don’t want to schlepp the stuff home, so make an offer!”
The organizers are going to do their best to promote the market to specific buyers, collectors and dealers as well as the general public. I learned today that “big stuff” vendors are the ones having a hard time there. The market is packed, but not necessarily with people looking to furnish their homes.
I’m dedicated to making this work for so many reasons. But mainly because it’s 5 minutes from my house.
Comment by RH — May 12, 2008 @ 5:36 pm
[…] experienced sun yesterday morning for the very first time at the Brooklyn Flea. The double wide experiment was doing quite well and we were on a roll. And then the heavens opened up. And the afternoon was a […]
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