By Saturday, 22 shipping containers in an array of colors will be in place for the opening of Dekalb Market, a collection of food, clothing and other retailers in downtown Brooklyn that will be open year-round. Ten food vendors have signed one-year leases for the 160-square-foot containers, some open on the long side with a counter and others open on one end. They are: Cheeky Sandwiches from the Lower East Side; Cuzin’s Duzin, a doughnut shop from Albee Square Mall that was where the market is now being installed; Maharlika, for prepared Filipino food; Mazie’s Bites, a soul food caterer; Nile Valley Eco-Juice and Salad Bar for vegan food; Pasticcio, which once had two Italian restaurants, one in Manhattan and the other in Queens; the Tea Box, an online retailer; Joe, the coffee cafe; Robicelli’s cupcakes; and Sour Puss Pickles, Brooklyn purveyors that are regular street-market denizens. (Allison Robicelli, pictured, painted her container the other day.)
A series of flourishing vegetable gardens line the Willoughby Street side of the area, wheretomatoes, squash, chard, collards, Asian greens, corn, kale, peppers, carrots, amaranth and more are being grown. Each plot is maintained by a different community group, including Malcolm X Grassroots, which will distribute the crops to low-income areas, and New York City College of Technology around the corner, which will use the garden to supply its restaurant run by culinary students. Behind the garden there will be a kitchen and classroom, and in the center of the market, a tent with picnic tables.
The market is the first permanent American installation by Urban Space, a company founded in London in 1979 that has more than 20 container projects in Britain. In New York the company has set up temporary holiday markets at Madison Square, Union Square and Columbus Circle.
Dekalb Market is about a square block, at 332 Flatbush Avenue Extension, bordered by Willoughby Street and Gold Street, north of the Fulton Mall in Brooklyn. All vendors will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and some will be open as early as 8 a.m., and stay open as late as midnight. The market will have four entrances; dekalbmarket.com.
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