18/09/2021
Now closed, the Annex Markets, including, most recently, Chelsea Flea Market, The Garage, and Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, were part of a long legacy of the Annex antique and flea markets in New York City, stretching back to the first Annex market opened in 1976 in Chelsea as The Annex Antiques Fair & Flea Market.
The Annex markets' founder and New York City native, Alan L. Boss, was the undisputed Lord of the Fleas from 1976 through 2019 when he retired from the flea market business.
Equipped with a degree in Economics, entrepreneurial drive, and a strong dislike of run-of-the-mill office culture, Boss created a globally-recognized and weekends-only set of destination locations for discerning shoppers, fashion designers, prop masters, interior decorators, collectors, and others.
Collectively, the Annex Markets--including the Annex's only indoor market, The Garage, Inc.--proved to be a source of inspiration not only for notables including Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz, and a plethora of "secret shopper" fashion designers, but 100,000s of shoppers keen to hunt and haggle for the best of antiques, collectibles, ephemera, and more--from 19th-century, early-20th, and mid-century antiques and décor to vintage clothing, accessories, estate jewelry, historical artifacts, art, architectural decorative elements, militaria, vinyl records, and more.
The Annex Markets also served as the setting for various TV commercials, fashion shoots, travel articles, films, flea-related reality TV shows, a documentary, and--most importantly--an eclectic mix of dealers and customers who gathered every weekend, rain or shine (except for during very rare instances of blizzard or downpour conditions), and formed community in a unique way that would be impossible to closely replicate in New York City today.
While the outdoor parking lot locations of the Annex markets and the indoor parking garage of the Garage market are now obliterated by high-rise residential buildings and a hotel, (Hell's Kitchen Flea Market was arranged street-fair-style on West 39th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues), the Annex legacy lives on not only in the memories of shoppers and dealers but in the thousands of cherished items from the markets that have homes today in residences, offices, and collections all over the world.