Franklin Flea

The market is set in a grand old marble building in downtown Philadelphia that used to be a shopping mall, and you can find almost anything here — from sweaters to old Pennsylvania license plates, and even vintage Playboys. The vendors here are friendly and interesting, many of them are selling items they’ve collected themselves over the years. Worth checking out around the holiday time, if only to get a bit of historic charm!

The Franklin Flea is like a real life version of Etsy. Great vintage stuff. Great handmade stuff. Sometimes pricey. I got one of my favorite necklaces there and the guys from Oliiver are always there selling their delicious scented candles. I like walking through Franklin Flea and looking at all the stuff, especially the vintage clothes (duh), but I rarely buy there. To be honest, it’s not my favorite flea market as for the most part, its prices are really not flea market prices. I get it, it’s a curated fancy flea. And I enjoy it for what it is. But give me Phila Flea’s prices any day!

This is a show, like the one at the Convention center. Not a flea market.
If you can afford to buy here, you wouldn’t be at a flea market! May as well shop NYs fifth ave.

Fun place to shop for vintage! There’s also food vendors. It’s interesting to be back in the old Strawbridge’s building.

Franklin Flea is one of those places that held great allure to me simply because I’d heard so much about it; featured on every Philly-​centric site and checked-​in to by every trendy person I know, I was totally swept up in the desire to see what it was all about. Last Saturday afternoon, we took advantage of free holiday season parking and went to finally check it out.
The setting really is perfect — the fancy chandeliers, high ceilings, and marble entryway is hard to beat. Long ago (mostly before I can remember) my dad worked here, so I was totally digging the department-​store nostalgia. I mean, what better scenery that this to get you in the mood to buy old stuff?
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to buy. Lots was way above my price range, probably great for someone looking to carefully decorate a home but not exactly thrift-​friendly. We did end up purchasing some cool engraved hotel key chains, but mostly we just admired and appraised.
I’d love to see this get bigger, easily possible given all the cool niche stores and craft makers in Philly. For now, it’s cool, but don’t expect to spend the day — an hour or two is plenty to check it all out.

As others have said, this market is pretty small. I probably only spent about a half hour there walking around and chatting with a friend. I did find some jewelry that I liked and there were some interesting housewares if I was in the market for that sort of thing. There was no food truck when I went.

The Piazza’s Brooklyn Flea loss is the old Macy Building’s gain as it does bring a fun seasonal vintage flea market, as well as a somewhat unique shopping experience to an area that desperately needed it. And while it still suffers through some growing pains, and is more of a vintage clothing and furniture market than a flew market. it can be fun to bargain hunt in.
When I first heard that it was taking place in the old Macy’s building, I was expecting a market that was considerably larger since it took place in what was once a classic department store that you could still see the remnants of blockaded off in. Philly is a a city that has the potential to deliver one of the largest recurring indoor vintage and flea markets as I’ve evidenced by plenty of R5 Punk Rock Flea Markets, Philadelphia Independent Craft Markets, Art Star Craft Bazaar’s, and citywide outdoor flea markets; and even in good vintage stores that consistently update their stock like Jinxed Philly and Era Atomica. But the end result was a mere fraction of that even though it was in the right building to maintain otherwise.
Fortunately though the small market was very well calculated and featured plenty of my favorite vendors like Hoof & Antler and the Captain’s Vintage. And it was nice to grab a coffee with Elixr while doing the walk through. If I had been prepared to shop around for a vintage dining table or sofa that I was in the market for, I would have found a plentiful assortment there that would have exceeded my expectations. But the me that was looking for some worthy flea market finds and reasonably priced thrift clothing and bric a brac would have left completely unsatisfied if it weren’t for the reasonably priced allure of the Captain; or occasionally overpriced charm of the Hoof.
While it certainly can become bigger and better with age and the right collaborations; it the meantime its off to a good start.

I went here a couple weeks ago to check out the new hot spot for Saturday flea-​ing in the City. The empty, old department-​store, showroom was too large for the number of vendors, but for those who were there, the booths were quite quality. There was a broad range — from furniture, to jewelry and clothes, to books and knick-​knacks, to delicious things to consume. It was a good way to spend an hour browsing around on that afternoon, but I didn’t honestly see anything I wanted to purchase except for the Lil Pop Shop brownie bar that I ate!

Great idea, poorly executed.
I would love to see something like this take off in this spot — BUT — the vendors tend to not have a lot of stuff and often the prices make no sense. There were some different types of vendors there — homemade hot sauce, lots of clothes, only a few odds and ends dealers. .. and not much variety. The line of food vendors makes little sense compared to the few sellers…
It wasn’t worth the effort of going up there today. .. which is too bad. If it were worthwhile, I’d be there most every Saturday.

The Franklin Flea may call itself a flea market, but as other reviewers have mentioned, the items are more vintage and at a much higher price range than what you would usually find at a flea market. It’s very reminiscent of the short-​lived Brooklyn Flea in the Piazza, though with less of an emphasis on the furniture.
With that being said, the Franklin Flea is a really cool use of the old Strawbridge’s building. The location is stellar– near both the PATCO station and the Market East station, plus there’s parking lots right there as well.
There were some really cool vendors there– old jewelry and select furniture pieces are what this bazaar specializes in. There is a wide range of clothes, but as I mentioned before, you’re paying retail prices (or higher) for clothes that have already been worn. Not really my jam.

Came here to do some holiday shopping… and I ended up doing most of the shopping for myself… but I did get a gift or two for friends. Most of the stuff for sale was vintage/​thrift goods… which was AWESOME, but I find it difficult to buy this sort of thing for someone else. They had live music which was incredibly pleasant and not overpowering. They also had some great grub onsite. Unfortuantly, nothing was vegetarian except the cupcakes… so i was forced into a salted carmel chocolate cupcake. Darn ;-). A very worthwhile holiday shopping adventure making great use out of a gorgeous and barren space!!!

Really good banana cupcakes from Milk & Sugar but too many clothes and faux-​vintage stuff if you ask me, not that I am an expert in this area.
That being said, it was neat going back inside Strawbriges but not as cool as going back if it were an Eataly if you know what I mean.

To be fair I was there on the first day. I will go back to take a second look.
I just saw a couple of problems. Way too many clothes for sale. I understand that it’s vintage but it tends to look like a Goodwill store. Retro, vintage, antiques, crafts are so wide spread it sad but I didn’t see that. It wasn’t diverse enough. I know some things will be similar. They can get a huge array of items for shoppers. Make it more interesting enough to want to have a cup of coffee and hang out.
As for prices, I was ok with it. The food was good too.

Most of the vendors here had a token globe today — big, small, vintage, bright blue, expensive, not too expensive. Unless they were food service, woodworking or jewelry-​only areas, they had a globe up for grabs. Since I already have two globes and a large vintage world map in my tiny apartment, I kept on walking and set my sights on the other great stuff Franklin Flea had to offer. (…But you should probably go snag one of those globes!)
Situated right across from the 8^th and Market PATCO, this place is in a prime location — great for Jersey people like me. The old Strawbridge’s building (fancy, fancy) was pretty chilly inside, but it was a decent-​sized market.
The first few vendors were void of items that my wallet could handle. I was starting to get worried until I came across a cookie cutter from the 1920s for $ 4. And then some buttons turned into earrings for $ 6 each. And then some cute little Christmas mice. And then some Indian Dreamcatcher earrings.
And like any reputable Flea Market, they sure had their share of glasses in all shapes and sizes. Although, to be honest, I saw this as more of a «vintage bazaar» type of place instead of a flea. I wish I could’ve afforded more of the stuff!

This is not a flea market, this is an upscale bazaar disgusing itself as a flea market. The price for many of the objects there are way over priced (who is going to pay 100 bucks for a flannel shirt from the 50s?!) and there were hardly any vendors worthwhile. They do have a decent food option, so that was really the only plus. I rather go to the Vintage/​Antique Flea Market at Spring Garden because I find more interesting treasures than I would here. Sorry guys, but this «flea market» is not for me.

Franklin Flea is a great flea market making a fantastic use of an empty building in Phily. At 8^th & Market, the location is beyond central and easily accessible via public transport.
Inside the vendors are diverse, selling anything from handmade jewelry to antique maps to vintage clothing. Not to mention the Elixr coffee, Luke’s Lobster roles and other great food options.
I’m so happy to have something fun to do this winter on the weekends. Absolutely worth a visit — thanks to all who had a part in putting this together!