News from around the country
A new flea market by the folks behind Brooklyn Flea is debuting in NYC
Curated by the people behind the beloved and renown Brooklyn Flea, which takes place under the Manhattan Bridge in Dumbo, BQ Flea will be open from 10am until 5pm every Sunday in October on Meeker Avenue between Union Avenue and Lorimer Street, right under the BQE. If all goes well, the flea market plans to return on a weekly basis in 2025, so this is your chance to feel out the vibes.
The BQ Flea is currently seeking local artists, entrepreneurs, food vendors and vintage sellers of furniture, rugs, lighting, housewares or any similar items to apply to be part of the offerings. In order to do so, you will have to submit a description of what your business is about in 500 words or less and include some photos.
BQ Flea's first operating day will be in early October 2024.
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Closure of Buckhorn Flea Market Leaves Vendors, Customers Asking What Happens Now
Since it began decades ago, the Buckhorn Flea Market in Orange County has served as a one-stop shop for many of its visitors’ needs. Food, clothing and hand-made items are all available – but unlike most places, you can also find goods and services ranging from mattresses to vehicle tires and live animals to a hairdresser.
Henry Taledo — one of the vendors — offers a variety of tools and home repair items, which he spreads across at a packed table set up under a tent. Each weekend across six years of selling at the market, he takes the items in and out of a dozen plastic bins he uses to transport the items each day and occasionally sleeps at the flea market to protect his inventory and other vendors’ items.
“We have a lot of things here for construction,” he said with the translation of Wendy Padilla. “We have tape measures, we have drills, we have power cords, we have wrenches and hammers. We have a very eclectic table, and [my wife] recently started selling soaps and household items.”
Taledo, who is originally from Honduras and now lives in Mebane, said he’s the main income-earner for his family and uses the flea market to earn extra money to help pay for his three daughters who are in school. He describes learning about the flea market’s closing and said the decision is “very impactful” to the whole family.
“The way they did it, just giving us such a short notice,” said Taledo, “is really unreasonable and it’s not… kind.”
As the Interstate 40/Interstate 85 corridor in western Orange County continues to attract development opportunities, the trucking company R+L Carriers is planning to build a new truck depot off Buckhorn Road near the interstate’s exit. The project was unanimously approved by the Mebane planning board on June 10 and appears poised to be passed by the city council – but will come at the expense of the Buckhorn Flea Market that’s operated on the site for decades.
Padilla, a Hillsborough resident, has used the flea market over the years to buy coconuts and other tropical food she can’t find in stores. She said when she learned about its impending closure while visiting, she wanted to be a vocal advocate to the vendors’ experience. Since then, Padilla has coordinated interviews with the media and met with local elected officials to ask what changes can be made – including whether an extension of the move-out deadline is possible.
“It is an injustice what is happening to the people here at the flea market,” said Padilla, “that they’re not getting enough time for them to figure out what they’re going to do.”
One challenge facing the flea market vendors is that no contractual leases seem to exist with its management. Most of the 300-500 merchants there each weekend are allowed a spot based on handshake agreements and monthly payments in cash. The management’s lack of public availability also creates difficulties – as Chapelboro was unable to confirm who manages the site and what their connection is to the proposed R+L Carriers project.
But any lack of a formal lease did not stop vendors from investing their own earnings into their stations at the Buckhorn Flea Market. German Tascon and Idalia Gallegos, a husband-and-wife duo, each bought a carport for their respective spots around seven months ago. Now, they have sold off the shelters at below-value prices because of the closing timeline and nowhere with enough space to keep them beyond Buckhorn Road.
Tascon said he and Gallegos moved to the area from Cary in order to be closer to the flea market grounds and said it’s difficult to think ahead about what comes next in their lives.
“We are just [up in the] air,” he said through translation. “We’re very perplexed, we can’t even think straight as to what to do. We’re wondering what we should do, but we have [Wendy] here – she’s really trying to help us and we’re hopeful maybe we can convince some people to extend the time so everybody can manage and process and move somewhere.”
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Don-Wes Flea Market reopening after devastating fire
Months after a fire nearly destroyed the Don-Wes Flea Market, vendors are now preparing to welcome people back.
The flea market announced they’re holding a soft opening on Saturday, October 15 before fully reopening on Saturday, November 12.
The flea market has been around for 26 years, it caught fire on July 16.
The Hidalgo County Fire Marshal said the cause of the fire was ruled as “undetermined.”
For owners Debbie and Jim Fitzgerald, the flea market represented their livelihood, as well as that of the vendors who set up shop there.
"We're still in the clean-up process, we've got a lot of rubble to clean up, but we're getting there," Jim Fitzgerald said.
The owners waited until the Hidalgo County Fire Marshal gave them the go-ahead to start rebuilding.
“It's like the phoenix, we rise from the ashes,” Debbie Fitzgerald said.
The fire ruined most of the 26,000 square feet lot, affecting most of the local vendors who live behind the market.
Some vendors were able to salvage their RV homes.
There are also plans to add air-conditioned cafés and restaurants to the market.