End of an era: Vendors scramble as popular South Florida flea closes
Originally opened as the Pompano Outlet Mall in 1986, the sprawling Festival Flea Market Mall — as it was relaunched in 1991 — has been a community staple for decades, for Broward and beyond.
Vendors selling jewelry, cigars, shoes, handbags, perfume, outdoor furniture — and everything in between — have cultivated a loyal customer base, who can spend hours searching for bargains and prized finds across 390,497 square feet of retail.
But the marketplace’s time is coming to an end. Last year, vendors received letters announcing its operations would end in June. Although many are moving to another location, for some of the smaller stores, it could spell the end.
"I know that they tried to kind of rehouse people wherever they could," said Kira Silverman, who runs an antiques store at the marketplace. "But commercial real estate prices are expensive, and for small boutique-style vendors like this, unless you come up with a group of people, it's really hard to be able to make that move."
Silverman's store, the Hillsboro Antique Mall, which she runs alongside Christiane Scott, was first opened by their families in Deerfield Beach in 1997. It moved to the Festival Flea Market Mall 15 years ago.
They were hoping the market wouldn't close, but the news wasn't a surprise to them. They had been wondering if they would be safe "for a while," Silverman told WLRN.
" Honestly, aside from the stresses and the burdens of having to move our own business, I think we're all just really sad because a lot of these smaller vendors that already are here in the festival have been here for years before us," she said.
"Unless they find another flea market-style business, a lot of them aren't going to have anywhere to go."
In 2018, North Miami-based IMC Equity Group purchased the flea market and filed plans in 2022 to rezone the land from general to industrial, which the City of Pompano Beach eventually approved. Orlando-based Foundry Commercial has the property under contract from IMC, and they plan to turn it into warehouses and industrial spaces.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that some vendors appear to be relocating to the Lauderhill Mall, which is part of IMC Equity's vast portfolio of retail properties.
'Business is not what it used to be'
However, not everyone is moving to that location.
In the immediate months following the initial announcement, Silverman said there was a scramble within the market for people to try to partner up and see if they could move into a new business together. A few of the vendors reached out to her.
" Unfortunately, the real estate market for commercial business is very competitive and real estate is very expensive," she said.
The Hillsboro Antique Mall will be moving two miles west, to the Peppertree Plaza in Margate, in the coming weeks. Silverman is excited about the fresh start, but says they will be losing a sense of community, since they won't have a variety of businesses all under the same roof anymore.
" I don't think any of us will ever be able to get that back, because the flea market business is just not what it used to be," Silverman said. "There are a couple of other flea markets and antique stores that have all just slowly started going out of business because so much more of this business is done online now."
Saturday, May 31 was the last day of operations for the mall.
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Berkeley Flea Market vendors warned the market could close by end of June
Vendors at the long-running Berkeley Flea Market said they received flyers on Saturday from the market's staff stating the market "will cease all operations as of June 28, 2025."
The market, located at the Ashby BART station on weekends, has been operating for five decades. However, the market told vendors that since the COVID-19 pandemic, it has struggled to make ends meet.
In the flyer given to vendors, the market staff said the market has been losing money almost every weekend since before the pandemic, and that it "will be completely out of funds by the end of July 2025."
Market leadership said business has been slow and that there has been a decline in the number of vendors.
Vendors grappled with the news on Saturday after getting the notices from staff. Vendor Anna Jackson, who has been selling cannabis topicals at the Berkeley Flea Market since 2014, said another vendor filled her in on the flyer.
"I sat in my car and read it, and I’m like -- I was in shock. I’m like 'What? Are you kidding me?” Jackson recalled.
Jackson, who is 66-years-old, said she has memories of coming to the flea market as a kid with her parents.
"A lot of the vendors here, this is how they put food on the table," she noted. "This is history. This is culture."
Ivy Yan, who said she has been selling wares at the flea market for 25 years, said she loves this particular market at doesn't sell anywhere else.
"We don’t want to lose this flea market, we want it to stay here," she emphasized.
Despite the notes sent to vendors on Saturday, a manager for the market on Sunday said that vendors and the community should wait to see what happens after the market's board meeting on Thursday. The manager said more updates would be available after the board meeting. He also noted that the market doesn't have the number of vendors it needs yet, and it would help if more vendors enrolled to sell at the market.
Funding is one of several areas where the market faces uncertainty. The market may be forced to relocate due to a proposal to build housing in what is now the Ashby Bart Station parking lot. Public information on the development project from earlier this year shows the flea market being relocated to another side of the plaza.
Vendors say they like the current location that allows them space to display all their wares and have some separation from the car traffic on surrounding streets.
Robby Roberts, who was selling sports apparel at the market on Sunday, said that compared to other Bay Area flea markets he's been to, he prefers selling in Berkeley.
"Here, they do spend money, there’s not a lot of people coming, but the ones that come are serious buyers," Roberts said.
Vendors admit that their numbers are much smaller than they used to be. But they each expressed a desire to see the community work out a way to keep the market going.
"I’m hoping we can get more vendors out here, because if you have vendors, you have customers," Jackson noted.
Vendors said they are urging customers and other businesses to continue showing up at the market. They plan to have their own meeting to discuss the future of the market on Saturday.
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Vendor charged in Flea Market shooting
A vendor at the Memorial Day Flea Market in Hillsville, Virginia, has been charged with reckless handling of a firearm and malicious wounding following a shooting Friday.
Richard Dale Lee, 49, of Hillsville, was arrested and charged malicious wounding and reckless handling of a firearm, according to the Hillsville Police Department. He is alleged to have fired on two teen-agers, striking one in the back, as they ran from the booth he was attending.
According to Hillsville Police Chief Shannon Goad, the Hillsville Police Department and Carroll County EMS responded to West View Terrace Apartments on May 23 at approximately 12:43 a.m. in reference to a male juvenile with a gunshot wound to the back.
"After a preliminary investigation, it was determined that the incident occurred sometime earlier in the area of 1010 West Stuart Drive in Hillsville. During a brief encounter at a local vendor's tent set up for the Memorial Day Flea Market, the 17-year-old juvenile was shot in the back with a semi-automatic .40 caliber pistol," Goad said.
Chief Goad said Lee was transported to the New River Valley Regional Jail in Dublin, where he is being held with no bond. The juvenile was airlifted to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem. No word was available on his condition.
"The investigation is ongoing and future charges are pending," Chief Goad added.