Brooklyn Flea Questions
 

Hi there - we are planning to work in a visit to the Brooklyn Flea on our upcoming visit to New York City.

Is there any difference between the Saturday one at Fort Greene and the Sunday one at Williamburg waterfront?

Any other experiences to share or comments about either?

thanks
Val

The Fort Greene one on Sat. is heavy on vintage items, along w/some good newer artisan hand-made jewelery. The vintage jewelry, kitchenalia, home goods, shoes, clothes are very good. It is a family event, lots of strollers and people sit on steps to the bldg there to eat and socialize. The lines for food and drinks are long, so don't plan to eat there unless you want to wait, and bring your own water bottle.

I have not been to the Williamsburg one.

If you like vintage and antiques, check out the Chelsea Flea in the parking garage at 112 W 25th St. btwn 6th and 7th Aves. It fills up 2 floors of the parking garage on Sat. and Sun. and is the best vintage market I have been to anywhere. I go there every weekend I am in NYC.

Unlike the market in Chelsea, the Brooklyn Flea isn't a "true" flea market. (The Chelsea market has been around for over 20 years; the Brooklyn Flea is a new concept about 5 years old.)

The Brooklyn Flea is a curated group of vendors, some of whom sell vintage items and some of whom are artisans (like you'd find at the Union Square Holiday Market). Most of these artisan vendors sell at both locations, though Fort Greene is heavier on the vintage than Williamsburg. The latter was created in part to emphasize the burgeoning food aspect of the Flea. IME, it's also less crowded, though I have yet to go to that location this year.

While you do have to wait in lines for food if you go at a popular time, you'd do worse than eating there: lots of local-focused, artisanal foods plus outposts of popular food shops like Red Hook Lobster, Japadogs, Momofuku sweets...

<i>and people sit on steps to the bldg</i>
This sounds like the previous poster has only been to the indoor one that occurs during the winter. In warmer months - like now - the Flea is outdoors, in a parking lot in Ft Greene and another open space in W'burg.

I went to the outdoor one, not indoors. People sit on the steps to the bldg at the back of the outdoor flea in Ft. Greene to eat and socialize. I am not sure what bldg. it is.

My son lives in Brooklyn so I have been to both the Fort Greene and the Williamsburg one. I personally prefer the Fort Greene one on Saturdays. I think it has a better atmosphere than Williamsburg (even though Williamsburg is on the river). As mentioned above it is rather an eclectic group of sellers. I really enjoy the food vendors especially the lobster rolls (you can have them with mayonaise or butter), the donut vendor and the almond/cashew milk vendor (comes in different flavors)...plus its fun to eat and people watch.

thanks very much for the feedback! Eclectic works for us - we don't have any specific goals but enjoy a good random browse. Sounds like either will be fine and I'll just have to see whether Sat or Sun fits better in our schedule :-)