{"id":7920,"date":"2025-10-16T14:00:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/7920\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:00:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:00:14","slug":"come-on-home-berkeley-flea-market-officially-reopens-local-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/7920\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Come on home\u2019: Berkeley Flea Market officially reopens | Local Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Berkeley Flea Market is open again, after its official closure<\/a> June 28 and being independently maintained<\/a> by vendors over the summer.<\/p>\n

Community Services United, or CSU \u2014 the nonprofit organization that owns the market \u2014 and BART signed a new two-year agreement to keep the market in operation.<\/p>\n

The market had previously shut down because of dwindling vendors and finances, according to Artrenia Harris, the new president of CSU\u2019s board of directors. She said she was the sole vote on CSU\u2019s former board against the closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe agreed between ourselves to keep the market going, but if asked to do so, we would vacate the area,\u201d said Sheikh Faeez, one of the longtime vendors who continued selling at the flea market after its official closure.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Harris assembled a new board and \u201cquietly and silently\u201d secured the new permit August 30 with BART.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s probably the first time in history that this market has been run by its own vendors,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

Harris noted that the process was \u201ceasy\u201d because BART was \u201cmore than happy to open this contract up again,\u201d which is why she believes BART did not attempt to remove vendors who continued to sell on the Ashby lot.<\/p>\n

The permit reduces CSU\u2019s rental costs for the flea market space from $1,273 to $750 per month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the new agreement is much approved over the old,\u201d Faeez said. \u201cManagement stays within the market and operates alongside us. They check in regularly, attend to our needs and listen when we offer suggestions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although CSU initially wanted to secure a 10-year lease, BART and CSU ultimately agreed on a two-year lease. Under Section 8 of the permit, either BART or CSU can unilaterally end the agreement if they let the other party know 30 days in advance.<\/p>\n

BART communications officer Anna Duckworth said this clause was important because of BART\u2019s planned housing developments with the city of Berkeley on the Ashby west parking lot, which could \u201cresult in BART\u2019s modification or termination of this permit.\u201d Duckworth said she doesn\u2019t anticipate that the permit will be modified.<\/p>\n

However, Christopher Smith, a longtime vendor and drummer at the Berkeley Flea Market who has not returned since the new agreement, said \u201cA two-year lease will not stop BART development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the city of Berkeley and BART build housing on the Ashby West Lot, Harris said the future of the market is uncertain. Harris added that approximately two to three years ago, she heard of plans to move the flea market to Adeline Street after the completion of housing development. This proposal was not included in the August 30 permit.<\/p>\n

According to Harris, fewer vendors have been attending the Berkeley Flea Market, especially on Sundays, because people believe the market is still closed. CSU is spreading flyers around the area and promoting the reopening on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe and the new management are doing what we can, but if people don\u2019t show up, then they shouldn\u2019t express faux upset at the market\u2019s closure,\u201d Faeez said.<\/p>\n

To longtime vendors who have not returned to the market, Harris said, \u201cCome on home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Berkeley Flea Market is open again, after its official closure June 28 and being independently maintained by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[8016,8014,4941,3767,8012,8017,8013,143,145,144,8015],"class_list":["post-7920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-anna-duckworth","tag-artrenia-harris","tag-ashby","tag-bart","tag-berkeley-flea-market","tag-christopher-smith","tag-community-services-united","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-sheikh-faeez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}