'40 years of tradition' ending: Flea Market Tallahassee closing
"We want to thank all our patrons and vendors for the last 41 years! It is with a heavy heart we must announce that Flea Market Tallahassee will be closing on July 27th," market owners wrote on Facebook. "We appreciate everyone's patience as we prepare for closing."
The market, which operated at 5353 Capital Circle SW for its entire run, took a heavy blow in late January when a freak winter storm that brought 2 inches of sleet, snow and ice to the capital collapsed the roof over numerous vendor booths.
The market was able to reopen in a limited capacity within a couple of weeks and got to work over the coming months demolishing the impacted areas so they could reopen more space for vendors.
But the damage was done, and now what's become a weekend tradition for many Tallahasseeans will end. According to the market's website before the storm, "each weekend thousands of visitors drop by our market to visit the close to 400 vendors on site."
Jami Robinson, longtime assistant manager of the market, told the Democrat in an interview Saturday that the longtime owner, employees, vendors and shoppers were "very sad."
"After the storm and January, we just sustained, so much damage the rebuild was just not possible," she said. "The owners really tried to see if we could make it work."
She said even the reopened spaces were a difficult sell because they were in open air stalls in the scorching Tallahassee summer heat.
She said the decision to close wasn't made lightly and that they are offering vendors that have been there since the beginning a 50% discount on the weekly rents.
"Our kids have grown up here," she said. "We've watched our vendors' kids grow up here."
"This is income for a lot of people here," she continued. "Some are getting Social Security and retired, and this puts extra money in their pockets. It's 40 years of tradition."
As for the future of the market site, Robinson said "nothing is set in stone." The Southside Storage component of the market will remain open and could be expanded.
"As of right now we are waiting to see what our owner is going to do," she said. "We don't know how things will pan out for the future."
As news of the closure spread, residents reacted with sadness on social media.
"Oh no!! This is heartbreaking," one person wrote on Facebook. "I've been going since it opened and still go faithfully at least once a month if not more. I was just there last weekend and the vibe was so fun and there were so many different vendors."
"Many many memories and great purchases out there," another wrote. "Long Live Tallahassee Flea Market."
"Tallahassee is slowly losing everything that made it so special and cool," still another wrote.
William Hatfield is editor of the Tallahassee Democrat. Email him at whatfield@tallahassee.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Flea Market Tallahassee closing months after Florida winter storm
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