Annex/Hell's Kitchen Flea Market Oh, the drama.
The Annex/Hell's Kitchen Flea Market is a destination for vintage clothes fanatics, and on a warm day in December, a sliver-sequined, hand-stitched, pearlescent trench coat was drawing a lot of interest. Especially from one blond actress. She tried it on–it was made for her, of course–then forced herself to walk away. She circled back, tried it on again; she walked away, wandered back.
39th Street between 9th and 10th Avenue
Saturday and Sunday 10 am–6 pm
39th Street is where the displaced Chelsea Flea Market is trying to keep a stake planted in the cold concrete city. While their website says that they draw up to 170 dealers, the number I counted that Saturday was closer to 40 (Sundays and good weather draw more). The location feels isolated, and there's little vital neighborhood foot traffic. It took me a few minutes to identify and appreciate the type of customers the market draws most successfully.
Robert Brophy, the dealer selling the sequined trench, kept one eye on the hovering actress while he answered my question, "who shops here?"
"Vintage store owners, buying to resell. Actresses, people from Japan who take clothes home to resell, Europeans, people looking for something pretty to party in . . . ." He laughed. "Your skinny rich bitch New York girl who is a size 2 or 4." (You know who you are.)
For people looking for interesting buys and good deals in second-hand clothing, then, this flea is full of opportunities. Of course there are booths that sell vintage costume jewelry, furniture, collectibles and bric-a-brac, too. The market is still struggling to establish itself, but everyone in New York City is rooting for it to succeed.
One of the biggest draws appears to be Anthony, a clothing dealer who runs The Store With No Walls. It was bustling. He sells to designers, models, and European tourists, and he about chocked when I called his items "used." Priding himself on only selling value, he works all week cleaning and repairing his clothes, and the only correct term, I learned, is "vintage."
Two young Norwegian women, regular customers of Anthony's, praised his clothes and his deals. I can attest to the same: the week before a friend of mine walked away with four pairs of beautiful, lightly-used, high-end designer shoes at $20 each (and since we're the same size I'm still miffed she didn't share).
The actress approached the sequined coat again, so I ran back to watch the deal go down. She was still stalling, singing the plaintive song of the love-lorn and cash-strapped: "Do you have a card? You'll be here tomorrow, right?" Then she took a picture of the coat with her cell phone, sent it to her boyfriend, and walked away.
Also read:
To Hell and Back: New York Social Diary profile
FleaSpeech: Hell's Kitchen Flea Market official blog
Nearby: being near the theater district, restaurants on 9th Avenue are numerous. You'll find the trendy HK on 39th St. and 9th Ave, facing the entrance to the flea.
Nora and Mina, formerly of Norway, shopping at The Store With No Walls.
(Here Be Old Things does not endorse fur.)
Cathe's great $20 purchase . . . the end of our friendship?
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