T+L heads to Fort Greene, where the Brooklyn Flea first started.
Since 2008, the market has grown from a DIY experiment in a public-school parking lot to an indie shopping mecca with spin-offs around the borough. Here, we explore its original location, in the historic Fort Greene neighborhood.
Olde Good Things (C-18-20 ) offers immaculately restored vintage furniture and massive mirrors framed in reclaimed tin ceiling tiles.
With porcupine quills poking from vintage brass vases and tortoiseshell-lined old army cases, Hunters & Gatherers (W-9) is your one-stop curiosities and home shop.
The ultimate Brooklyn keepsake? One of Matt Schwartz’s dreamy Coney Island prints, fashioned from large-format Polaroids. You’ll find them at She Hit Pause Studios (B-7).
Retro connoisseurs love Jellyroll Vintage (B-16) for its quality threads, from 1950’s circle skirts to mod minidresses.
Species by the Thousands (B-13) has edgy handcrafted jewelry. Think amethyst geodes on leather cording and monocle pendants.
Flux Productions (V-2) sells one-of-a-kind totes and bike bags made from vegetable-tanned leather and lined in colorful screen-printed fabrics.
For handmade ceramic bowls, coasters, and vases patterned after cable-knit sweaters, milk bottles, and Mason jars, stop in at Alyssa Ettinger (E-25).
Brooklyn Flea market locations vary by day (Saturday it’s Fort Greene; Sunday it’s along the East River waterfront in super-hip Williamsburg) and vendors change weekly. Check brooklynflea.com for directions and updates.
Every Friday, the website’s blog posts two items for a scavenger hunt at each market. Finders, keepers—they’re free.
Don’t miss Smorgasburg, the new all-food Saturday market in Williamsburg, with about 100 stalls for greenmarket produce and cheap eats. One highlight: Asiadog, a haute hot dog stand with toppings like Japanese curry and kimchi apples.
