Kent Avenue is becoming the most bazaar street in Williamsburg.
The strip near the Edge condos — already home to Artists and Fleas, the Brooklyn Flea and the Saturday “Smorgasburg” — is about to welcome another crafty neighbor, the Northside Market, later this month.
More than 30 vendors will take over the former Edge sales office at Kent Avenue and N. Sixth Street on weekends beginning on June 25 — giving shoppers yet another destination to ogle homemade crafts and devour tasty snacks.
The pop-up market is the brainchild of broker Alex Sussman, who had been trying to rent out the corner storefront for a few months when he teamed up with flea market guru Justin Look to launch the site.
But Sussman isn’t worried about the competition.
“It doesn’t hurt to have the other markets in the area — every market is different,” said Sussman. “We’re going to keep it to the new, homemade, and handmade as opposed to vintage items — and if we do vintage, it will be more reworked pieces, not second-hand items.”
Roughly 30 vendors will be spread out on tables in the ground-floor space with the back reserved for art installations by a rotating group of yet-to-be-named artists.
Most vendors are jewelry, handbag and clothing designers whose work is available on Etsy or the Renegade Craft Fare. Others are free-standing stores, such as Grand Street’s Fuego 718, known for quirky Central American crafts, and Bedford Avenue’s The Yarn Tree, which will conduct indigo wool-dying demonstrations.
But the biggest attraction will be its food.
Sussman has lured vendors who will make sliders, coffee, and Hawaiian shave ice.
“They use a big block of ice and a machine with a razor on the bottom that shaves ice so finely its almost like snow— and then you can get syrup, fruit or ice cream in it,” said Sussman. “It’s supposed to be awesome.”
Northside Market (135 Kent Ave. at N. Sixth Street in Williamsburg). Weekends beginning on June 25, 10 am-6 pm, through Aug. 31. For info, visit www.northside-market.com. Interested vendors can e-mail info.northsidemarket@gmail.com.
