Our Story

At a time when shopping has become a click and daily cardboard box delivery, Artists & Fleas is a conductor of human-to-human transaction—where stories are as plentiful as products.

Our marketplace is a community that champions self-expression for both buyers and sellers. We foster the relationships between our artist/curators and our customers: nurturing independent makers into full-fledged businesses by empowering patrons to shop locally.

It’s a place for makers and vintage curators to find homes for the objects that they put so much of themselves into and a place for seekers to find themselves in the objects that they take home. Artists & Fleas is more than shopping. It’s the thrill of discovering, and being discovered.

The parent company of Artists & Fleas, Shop Extraordinary Enterprises was established to create retail experiences that bolster the courage of entrepreneurs, the spirit of creativity and the power of human connection. The company’s current portfolio of brands also includes Regeneration, a shopping destination for the next generation vintage shopper, and the Manhattan Vintage Show, the iconic vintage showcase that takes place in NYC three times a year.

“Artists & Fleas [is] an IRL and Instagram destination for those who love to discover what’s next in indie design.” — New York Post

“The experience is reimagined, enriched for discovery and swathed around a broader audience today.” — WWD

Artists & Fleas is a marketplace of makers — tastemakers, experience creators, designers, collectors and curators. Together, this creative community of shoppers & sellers come to discover and be discovered.

2003 December

Artists & Fleas opens on North 6th Street in Williamsburg, hosting 35 artists, designers and vintage collectors every Sunday for a weekly “show and sell” expanding to host 60 merchants and adding Saturdays over the next 6 years.

2010 December

Artists & Fleas moves to its current location on North 7th Street in Williamsburg.

2011 December

Artists & Fleas opens a 2-week holiday pop-up at Chelsea Market [paving the way for a series of future 3-month/6-month pop-ups in the subsequent 3 years.]

2014 April

Artists & Fleas opens permanently at Chelsea Market hosting 30 merchants.

2014 May

Artists & Fleas opens in Los Angeles’ Arts District (DTLA) with a monthly market hosting 75 independent merchants.

2014 October

Artists & Fleas expands in Williamsburg to host 100 individual merchants each weekend day.

2016 March

Artists & Fleas opens on Abbot Kinney in Venice (Los Angeles).

2017 May

Artists & Fleas opens in SoHo on Broadway.

2021 February

Artists & Fleas opens in the Bay Area (Northern California) first in Marin County.