Paulo Manaid, owner of Hatzumomo LLC, is exactly the kind of entrepreneur you might expect to sell online, rather than in traditional retail. Why deal with real estate, retail and the problems of the real world when you can ship and sell from home? She sells clothing she makes with hand-woven fabrics and Christmas ornaments from the Philippines. It’d be easy for the Internet to be her store’s front door.
But on a recent day, Manaid was selling at the Union Square Holiday Market, where old-fashioned retail is very much alive and well even on cold days where crowds shop and many New York entrepreneurs sell.
“Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy. I kind of enjoy this,” Manaid, an Astoria resident, said of her pop-up store at the Union Square market, run by Urbanspace. “Even if you’re freezing in the winter, there’s the interaction with people, sharing products. And for me too, it’s kind of like an introduction to Filipino cultures to people who don’t know anything about it.”
While the holiday season is big business and e-commerce may have stolen some of Santa’s thunder, outdoor markets are continuing to grow post-COVID as an avenue for local entrepreneurs and small businesses to find locals and tourists as customers.
Columbus Circle and Union Square have up to around 200 vendors, with tourists and local shoppers stopping by at a network of outdoor markets.
“I live here in Hell’s Kitchen,” said Dani Mattar who stopped to shop (and buy) at the Columbus Circle holiday market. “We were just going on our coffee walk and this is our first stop and we absolutely love everything that we see, so we were making our Christmas purchases and yeah, it’s a great vibe.”
Mattar enjoys the “experience you have” as well as “the emotional connection with people” as they meet craftspeople and artists with a kind of enthusiasm that keeps outdoor markets in fashion.
“A lot of locals” as well as tourists shop at holiday markets, according to Ian Stewart, head of marketing and events at Dream Tea NYC, founded by Anney Norton, which this year began selling at the Columbus Circle market, because of its location, longstanding clientele and foot traffic.
Dream Tea NYC does all their blending and packaging in New York City, selling primarily through e-commerce and hotel partnerships, before adding Columbus Circle.
“It’s been huge for helping to grow community drive awareness as well as sales,” Stewart said of in-person sales such as Columbus Circle. “Of course, this is our first holiday season doing anything in person and so far it’s been quite exciting.”
Parks and pop-ups
Eric Reynolds founded Urbanspace, now New York’s holiday pop-up king, in the 1970s with the Camden Lock Market in London. Eldon Scott later expanded the concept and business to New York holiday markets.
Scott since then has opened holiday, gift and food markets throughout the United States, claiming to attract nearly 8 million people.
Urbanspace runs The Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park (complete with an ice skating rink) and Union Square Holiday Market, each with around 200 vendors. That’s on top of the Columbus Circle Holiday Market, tucked into the Southern corner of Central Park. The Macy’s Holiday Square Market turns Broadway from 32nd Street to 36th Street into a market.
Many businesses exist only at these and other pop-ups, but some have permanent brick-and-mortar presences, like Mure and Grand, with Manhattan stores in the West 20s of, West Village, Seaport, Mulberry Street, SoHo, near Central Park, and Boston.
“Inspiration is everywhere we look,” Mure and Grand founder Emily Guggino said online. “My goal is to bring that inspiration to life with Mure and Grand, and to inspire everyone to celebrate themselves.”
Other entrepreneurs, such as Erisad Lugjaj, who, with his wife, launched Cuddle Crepes, selling at the Columbus Circle Market, had a crepe shop in Albania before opening this pop-up shop in the United States.
“People actually loved our crepes so we’re happy about it,” Lugjajs said of the business he and his wife run.
Winter isn’t the only time for big outdoor markets, of course. Manaid does “pop up markets year long,” including street fairs, which, she said, are slow in the winter, making holiday markets such as Union Square, where she sells from November 13 to December 24, an extension.
Build it and they will buy
Vendors get shells which they turn into their own store, creating an atmosphere and a way to attract shoppers.
Stewart said they installed everything, building their floor and walls as well as installing the furniture to “sort of set a vibe for the brand,” including its “Brooklyn” tea. Manaid decorated her pop-up shop space, as well as adding a heater.
“It’s freezing. Yesterday was very cold,” she said. “Water droplets were turning into ice. You wear everything and there’s a heater.”
Manaid said holiday markets such as Union Square, where she has been selling since 2021, provide a showcase for many companies with handmade products.
Customers meet craftspeople doubling as business people such as Manaid, who sells clothing often with a holiday theme, as well as painters such as Martha Colon, who has a studio on 37th Street.
“The hours are convenient. The days are convenient,” said Colon, who enjoys meeting people who buy her art. “I’m a solo artist so I can only do one month.”
She for two years sold at the Bryant Park market, which actually lasts more than two months, while Columbus Circle, where she is in her third year, is a month-long holiday market.
“I am actually working on a book, and this is to promote that book of illustrations based on this character that I’m developing,” Colon said. “Her name is Mia Khalifa and her story is here.”
More markets
Urbanspace is the leader, but there are other markets. Grand Bazaar NYC (originally GreenFlea Market) was launched by a group of parents as a simple yard sale to raise funds for their children’s schools around 1979, incorporating in 1985, claiming to be the oldest ongoing flea market in New York City.
They fund arts, enrichment, educators, classroom essentials and other programs for more than 2,000 children through The Parent Associations of P.S. 87, The Computer School, P.S. 334 Anderson School, and M.S. 247 Dual Language Middle School.
Grand Bazaar NYC, including its Grand Holiday Bazaar Dec. 21 and End of Year Sales Bazaar Dec. 28, bills itself as the “oldest, largest, and most diverse curated weekly market in New York City.”
The Bazaar, open indoors and outdoors, converts a schoolyard and cafeteria into what they call “a haven of discovery and treasure for more than 150 vendors and shoppers every Sunday.”
The Williams Winter Village in December fills Bk Backyard on weekends, although there is a price of admission for this “new December tradition.”
“Whether you’re hunting for the perfect present, meeting friends for festive bites, or just soaking up the magic of the season, Williamsburg Winter Village is your new December tradition,” is the way that market describes itself.
Not only in NY
Holiday markets, long a presence in Europe, are catching on nationwide as well, beyond New York City, from Chicago to Denver and beyond.
Indoor and outdoor holiday markets are popping up, mixing crafts and commerce, such as the Great Dickens Christmas Fair, recreating Dickensian London at the Cow Palace arena, in Daly City, near San Francisco.
Biblically-named Bethlehem, Penn., which calls itself the Christmas City, has Christkindlmarkt, and Baltimore has Christmas Village, while Denver has Christkindlmarket with wooden huts.
Chicago has Christkindlmarket, and Carmel, Indiana, has Carmel Christkindlmarkt, complete with an ice skating rink a la Bryant Park. Washington, D.C., has a holiday market, and Philadelphia has its own Christmas Village in Love Park.
Holiday wheres and wares
While some vendors sell the same wares year-round, many entrepreneurs at holiday markets sell holiday-themed clothing and crafts.
“I decorate sweatshirts and beanies with fabrics. It’s gifts people give to their loved ones,” Manaid said. “Business is pretty good. It had a slow start in November. Then Thanksgiving comes and December comes when everybody gets serious about buying.”
As markets, limited by space, grow, some companies hope to set up shop at more as well, in winter and beyond the gift-giving season.
Stewart said Dream Tea NYC, with New York-branded teas, is looking at possibly doing other markets, such as a summer and spring pop-up series, as well as “hoping to come back to Columbus Circle again for the holidays.”
While companies make sales, many hope to forge connections with customers, something that’s more difficult on the Internet.
They hope to build businesses and brands, expanding as entrepreneurs pursue their version of the American dream before taking a break once the new year arrives.
“It’s a great opportunity to expose my brand to a lot of people that come from all over the place,” Manaid said, noting she plans to rest a bit after the holidays. “Relax. Take a little bit of a break. Pop-up markets are kind of slow after the holidays.”
