palabras KATIE CALAUTTI

Dust off your old notions of “flea markets,” please: encompassed in a 40,000 square foot space staffed by roughly 160 vendors, the Brooklyn Flea Market is a veritable treasure trove of possibilities.

Located in an outdoors lot in the heart of tree-lined Fort Greene, vintage-addicts will appreciate the variety and novelty of jewelry booths, bicycle vendors, and used book bins. Though The Flea is a relatively young undertaking (it launched its first event on a chilly, rainy April Sunday that still drew hundreds of visitors), the pre-opening buzz, coupled with its subsequent success, has resulted in an almost 2,000-vendor waiting list.

What this spells for shoppers is a meticulously selected display of the best possible purveyors selling their wares every Sunday, rain or shine. Goods range from furniture, jewelry, art, photography, clothing, shoes, beauty products, food and various other knick-knacks, ¬both antique and new.

Flea co-founder Eric Demby curates the market selectively, and keeps the mixture of merchandise varied by rotating the sellers weekly. The result is a uniquely hand-picked, ever-changing utopia for the bargain-obsessed. “There is this awareness that every time you go to a market – even if it’s a week later – you’ll have a different experience,” says Demby. “The Flea is not a controlled environment like most stores. People feel invigorated by the freedom and unpredictability of what they’re going to see when they walk in the door.”

Such a high-sensory experience can overwhelm even the most intrepid buyers, especially when faced with one of the fundamental flea market practices: bargaining.

Russell Boyle, co-owner and co-curator of Brooklyn-based thrift store RePop, explains that the most important thing for shoppers to remember is that they must play by the rules. “The rules being that ¬– if you make an offer on an item you are haggling and the dealer accepts the offer in full, it is sort of aged antique law that the haggler is committed to buying the item,” Boyle says. “It’s rude to haggle a vendor down to a certain price and then walk away after they say OK. It is also rude to cross the border of certain percentages when haggling. If an item is $200, don’t ask for half off. A reasonable barter would be, ‘How about $160?’”

As for what to avoid when perusing the goods at any flea market, the rules aren’t quite as defined. “Flea markets are a crap shoot and you must always go into the hunt with an open mind, expecting to find anything or walk away with nothing at all,” advises Boyle. “And even though it’s true that the prices may get lower as the day wears on, it is always best to plan for an early start. Good stuff goes fast and early. The true scavenger – whether they be a dealer, designer, pack rat or collector – knows this and always arrives before opening.”

Aficionados of all stripes mill about this bustling lot – shoppers number between 5 and 8,000. Fine jewelry designer Gabriela de la Vega, who shows at the Flea almost every Sunday, reported that recently¬ the stylist for hit CW show Gossip Girl stopped by her booth and pulled 25 pieces for the show.

An established designer in her own right, de la Vega's jewelry can be found in luxury stores across the country, including Barneys in Manhattan. A 12-year resident of Fort Greene, she jumped at the opportunity to participate in a market that would bring awareness and revenue to her neighborhood (about 60% of the Flea’s vendors hail from Brooklyn).

De la Vega exemplifies much that the Brooklyn Flea offers-unique luxury items created by reputable designers at discount prices.

“Designing more accessible stuff for the market has been fun,” says de la Vega. “I still use real stones, but less expensive metals. I want to keep it of a certain quality. This new undertaking taught me that I don’t have to compromise aesthetically as a designer. I broke out of my little designer rut, in a way.”

While the price point for de la Vega’s boutique designs range from $300 to $2000, her Flea creations are between $30 and $90.

Though most shoppers are impressed with the reasonable prices of her wares, de la Vega isn’t averse to bargaining. “I’ll bargain to the degree that – ¬if someone is buying more than one piece, I’ll give them a break, or if I can tell that someone is really in love with a piece, I’ll bend a little bit.”

The Brooklyn Flea takes place every Sunday from 10am – 5pm at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, located on Lafayette Avenue between Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues.

For more information, visit the Flea’s website at http://brownstoner.com/brooklynflea.