BUFFALO, N.Y. — Kai Mikolajczak is in the business of nostalgia.
As an owner of Queen City Vintage in Buffalo, which sells retro or vintage clothing and makes them new and trendy again, his latest project is doing the same just on a much bigger scale.
"You know it's been a big void since it left about a decade ago," Mikolajczak said.
That void is the Super Flea on Walden Avenue in Cheektowaga. The flea closed in April 2014 and has since been demolished and replaced with a Walmart. Mikolajczak announced last month that he had plans to bring the nostalgic market back and recently announced the dates, times, and location of the new "Queen City Super Flea."
"We want to be very similar to how it was where, it's kind of a step back in time where people are seeing things from their childhood whether it's collectibles or hobbies things like that," said Mikolajczak.
The new flea market will be held at the Buffalo Outer Harbor at 325 Fuhrmann Boulevard starting June 4. The market will run through Labor Day with dates on June 18 and 25, July 2, 9, 17 and 24, August 7, 20 and 27, and September 18, and 25. They'll be open each day from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
"Once we dropped the news that we were bringing it back, the amount of people who reached out to vend, we needed an extremely large space," Mikolajczak said.
He said that's what ultimately led to choosing the Outer Harbor. That, and any potential COVID restrictions.
Parking will be free, food trucks present, and according to Mikolajczak potentially 360 plus vendors the first weekend. Nearly two dozen sellers from the old Super Flea in Cheektowaga have already reached out to reserve a spot.
"At the end of the day, the super flea, it's not based on location, it's not based on who shows up, it's the vendors themselves. That's what made the Super Flea and that's what we want to stress going forward as well," Mikolajczak said.
New vendors are also encouraged to apply at QueenCitySuperFlea.com.
"I really want to help people and promote their business or resell whatever we can just because I wish there was something like this when i opened my brick and mortar," Mikolajczak said.
Making the old new again and trying to help the new succeed in the Queen City.