Brooklyn Flea

The Great Middle West booth at the Flea feels like a good place to hang out: your cool friend's rec room where you really want to go to after school. Proprietor Caitlin Cowger has settled in nicely down in the vault, and she decorates her spot with flags and lights and artfully arranged kitschy kitchenware. Plus her signage is killer. She sells typewriters, letter blocks, vintage sign letters, rotary telephones, handmade stuffed toys, stacks of plates and glasses, a rack of well-curated clothing and a wide selection of vintage and new shoes, among all other things that add to the maximum-groovy effect. "I usually just buy things I like and hope other people do too," she told us.

Caitlin is from Kansas (Kansans are always so nice) and now lives in Bushwick. She sources mostly from, you guessed it, the midwest. "The searching is my favorite part!" she says, which we all obviously agree with. She started young: "My dad used to take me to auctions and estate sales when I was growing up and I guess I just caught the bug. I started buying to sell around 16." Every couple of months she takes extended buying trips throughout the midwest and down south too, on the hunt for the magical find. It's a good life.

You'll find Caitlin and The Great Middle West at One Hanson pretty much every weekend, and when we go outside (April 2/3!) she'll be back along the Lafayette fence in Fort Greene and in Williamsburg too. Being an old-fashioned, website-less business, you can contact her by email.