JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 For four decades, Pecan Park Flea Market has been a weekend ritual for Jacksonville\u2019s Northside community, a place where small businesses were built booth by booth, families spent their Sunday mornings, and shoppers traveled from across the region to browse more than 700 vendor stalls. That era is coming to an end.<\/p>\n
The remaining 20 acres of Pecan Park Flea & Farmers Market has been sold for $8.55 million to a Butler family-linked partnership, which plans to redevelop the property as an automobile dealership. The market\u2019s last day open to the public is September 27, 2026.<\/p>\n
Vendors learned of the closure this weekend when they arrived to find a letter on their doors from previous ownership.<\/p>\n
The letter confirmed the sale and outlined a timeline for the wind-down of operations. According to the letter, vendors may continue operating through September and will have until October 31, 2026, to remove all remaining property from their stalls. Any property left behind after that date becomes property of the new owners.<\/p>\n
The entrance gate will be closed on Saturdays and Sundays throughout October, with signage notifying the public that the market is permanently closed. Access to the property will not be permitted after October 2026.<\/p>\n
The letter also made clear that rent remains due in full through July 31st. Concessions on August and September rent will be considered on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n
Previous ownership closed the letter with a personal note: \u201cThank you all for making Pecan Park Flea & Farmers Market the special place it has been for 40 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Angela Herren, owner of Eccentric Leather, the news hit hard.<\/p>\n
Herren has operated her booth, known for handcrafted leather belts and goods, since 2019, when she took over from the stall\u2019s original owner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original owner that was here, Ms. Patty, she was known as the Leather Lady,\u201d Herren said. \u201cWhen she passed, we took over. We bought the inventory out from the family, and I wanted to keep it open for the community here at the park. But, you know, things change.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she saw the letter this weekend, the reality set in quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really sad news, and it was a shock to me yesterday,\u201d she said. \u201cIt made it real when we saw that paper \u2014 and I was like, okay, so it\u2019s real. Now what do we do?\u201d<\/p>\n
For Herren, Pecan Park was never just a place to sell goods.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve met vendors, customers, I\u2019ve met people from around the globe. It is not just the flea market. We\u2019ve had families here. This is like a second home on the weekend,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to replace a diamond in the rough like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not every vendor is walking away without hope.<\/p>\n
Ken LeBlanc, owner of Ken\u2019s Collectibles, said the closure brings mixed emotions \u2014 but he is choosing to look forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of me is sad because it\u2019s kind of coming to an end,\u201d LeBlanc said. \u201cBut the other half, I\u2019m excited. The future holds a lot of promising things for me. I\u2019m definitely worried about some of the people here. They\u2019ve been here so long.\u201d <\/p>\n
The loss extends beyond the vendors. Loyal shoppers who have made Pecan Park part of their weekend routine are feeling it as well.<\/p>\n
Linda and Tyrone Hamilton Jr., who travel from Brunswick, Georgia to visit the market, said it has long been a cherished tradition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to miss it \u2014 and I know a lot of other people are going to miss it,\u201d Linda Hamilton said. \u201cWe come from Brunswick, and this is just like a getaway. If it\u2019s just for a day, let\u2019s go to the flea market. Because you can always find something at the flea market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pecan Park Flea & Farmers Market is located at 614 Pecan Park Road in Jacksonville. The market will continue operating on its regular weekend schedule through September 27, 2026.<\/p>\n
Vendors with questions can contact the market at 904-379-6141.<\/p>\n
News4JAX will continue following this story as vendors prepare for the closure.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 For four decades, Pecan Park Flea Market has been a weekend ritual for Jacksonville\u2019s Northside…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,126004,11769,8532],"class_list":["post-299680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-pecan-flea-market","tag-shoppers","tag-vendors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}