Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » d*s fleamarket guide

one of the things i get emails about the most is: which fleamarkets do i love and can i recommend a great fleamarket in a specific area? when it comes to flea markets, i’m pretty loyal to anything local, but i do love a good road trip when it means lower prices and a less picked over selection (it’s tough to get the good stuff in nyc when you’re dealing with interior designers and stylists who come early and know exactly where to go). so one of the projects our intern christy worked on this summer was compiling a list of fleamarkets throughout the northeast (other regions coming soon). she’s got dozens and dozens on here but of course, if you know of a great flea we missed please just let us know in the comment section and i’ll add it asap when i get home tomorrow. thanks so much to christy for putting this together (and all of her help this summer) and happy flea marketing!

flea market lists organized by city:

I adore this blog, but I have to admit that it becomes tiresome to see information about design resources solely in the Northeast. I’m from the Northeast US, but I live in Chicago now. I would think there would be information about flea markets in the Chicagoland area; after all, there are 9 million people here.

In LA —

The Rose Bowl Flea Market — massive and great for finding anything and everything — and star spotting. Monthly.

http://www.rgcshows.com/RoseBowlFleaMarket/tabid/52/Default.aspx

The Melrose Trading Post — manageable, funky + fun. Every Sunday.

http://www.greenwayarts.org/tradingpost.htm

Giddified,
Grace is based in New York. I think she has done a great job of branching out as much as possible. There are many design blogs in all areas of the country. Check out one of those for more local information. For example, apartment therapy Chicago just did a post on a Chicago area flea http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/sales-events-calendar/grayslake-flea-market-059223
Or better yet, start your own blog.

Country Home just did a list of their 100 favorite antique shows. They’re for the summer, but a lot of them are year-round. Check it out here!

http://www.countryhome.com/community/100-hot-antique-shows_1.html

Philly-adjacent:
twice a year amazing rummage sale in Far Hills, NJ, not too far away (my family, located near Valley Forge, would trek out hear biannually and it remains legendary in family history and is the reason i ended up as obsessed with flea markets as i am today)

http://www.visitingnurse.org/rummage.htm

Green Dragon, Ephrata PA
Zerns, Gilbertsville PA

Adding my two cents to the LA market scene, Rose Bowl of course, Melrose, plus the Long Beach flea market has treated me well, and the Pasadena City College swapmeet is surprisingly great for no cover charge!

If there’s anyone planning to go to Belgium, then you have to go to the Brussels fleamarket: it’s called
Vossenplein in dutch and
Place jeu de balle in french
Every single day of the week with brilliant pieces and in the antiques area.

for the Philly area, there is a great flea market every Sunday morning where my mom lives in Lambertville, NJ on the Delaware River across from New Hope, PA. The whole area is beautiful, great day trip and about an hour north of Philly

If you’re in Texas check out the Round Top & Warrenton antique and flea market. My favorite booth is called Clutter, and eclectic and artful mix of.. everything!

http://www.antiqueweekend.com/indexmain.html

hi grace - do you think you could list your top 5 or something flea markets in the north east? i would love an edited version of this very impressive and vast list. or maybe just 3 within and easy drive of new york that have the good stuff - lovely old furniture / mirrors etc - ??

johanna

i’m pretty picky and tend to stick to the markets in the nyc area- i love the brooklyn flea and brimfield can be good, too. but other than that i can’t speak to other states besides MA and NY.

anyone else have favs?

grace

I’m all the way over here in SF on the West Coast! The Alameda Flea Market is absolutely AMAZING! IF you live anywhere close to the area it’s worth the trip!!

First Sunday of every month
http://www.antiquesbythebay.net/

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