Famed Chelsea Flea Market is closing soon

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The last in a sprawling empire of downtown Manhattan flea markets will permanently close Sunday, The Post has learned.

Chelsea Flea Market owners Alan and Helene Boss — whose treasures and trifles have for decades drawn bargain hunters and celebs alike — said their landlord has refused to renew their lease, leaving vendors and customers out in the cold.

“I was told in no uncertain terms we don’t want a flea market there,” said Alan Boss, who ran the weekend market from a West 25th Street parking lot in Chelsea.

Boss said he even offered landlord Larry Lipman more money, but was refused.

Lipman, president of the Manhattan Parking Group, did not return requests for comment. The property is owned by an LLC of which billionaire real estate developer Lawrence Friedland is principal. He could not be reached for comment.

Alan Boss opened his first flea market in the area in 1976, initially on Sixth Avenue and West 25th, attracting collectors, people watchers, and bold-faced names, such as Andy Warhol.

But that flea market fell victim to residential development in 2005. Another market in a nearby garage closed in 2014 and became a hotel. The Bosses’ Hell’s Kitchen flea market on 39th Street shuttered in early 2019.

Vendors and shoppers at the 25th Street market, where booths were stocked with vintage furs, old coins, oil paintings and lots of bric-a-brac,  were stunned by the news.

“I need someplace to sell my stuff, that’s what I’m looking for now,” Nicholas Ortega 70, a longtime vendor told The Post. “I don’t have a plan. Finding a place in New York like this is going to be very, very hard.”

And it’ll take time for vendor and customer alike to recover, said longtime seller Joe Burns. “They loved me and I loved them,” Burns said. “Life goes on.”

Geoffrey Berliner, who has been trolling the markets for decades, said the city is losing an institution.

“You’re finding things that are out of New York apartments. It could be photographs. It could be cameras. It’s recycling history,” said Berliner who is director of the nonprofit Penumbra photography foundation. “Its’s a way to actually see history up close and buy it.”

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Stuart Pivar, a 90-year-old Upper West Side art collector who used to come to the markets with his pal Warhol, was there Saturday — and in disbelief.

“What else am I going to do on a Saturday?” he said. “Something’s going to happen. We just have to pray.“

Eve Bryan, 72, a 40-year veteran of the market called it “the greatest part of my life.”

David Killen, who runs an eponymous gallery across the street from the flea market, said it was a place “for serious shoppers” adding he might be interested in saving it if the Bosses could not reach a deal with the parking lot owner.

The Bosses have had an uneasy history with some of their vendors over the years.

Debbie Leonard, who had a stall at their garage market told The Post “They’ve made old people cry. They’ve made little kids cry.”

The pair have also run into trouble with authorities.

Helene Boss was arrested twice in 2015, once for allegedly assaulting a neighbor near her Gramercy Park townhouse and once for petty larceny. She denied committing the crimes.

Alan Boss was charged with misdemeanor assault in July in what police said was a domestic abuse incident at the couple’s townhouse. The case is still pending.

“I was drunk,” Alan Boss said. He declined to elaborate further.

Additional reporting by Olivia Bensimon

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