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On most days, the bottom floor of the Jefferson Center serves as the location for The Song & Dance, a new concert venue in downtown Syracuse. But Sunday, chalk-drawn arrows and the phrase “vintage market” directed customers downstairs to the space filled with racks of clothing and other vintage finds.

“This was the first time anybody’s ever done a market in this space. So we’re all sort of like, ‘I wonder what it will be like?’” Sassafras Vintage owner Elissa Johnson said. “The BeatNook shows tend to be fun. They usually have a mix of vintage dealers and then also people who are making things.”

This edition of The BeatNook vintage market, called “The Classic,” was hosted at The Song & Dance. The space still had elements of the actual club venue, with an overhead disco ball and bar. More vendors filled the atrium, with sunlight peeking through the windows a few levels above and an elevator that came down between the vendors.

For this event, The BeatNook owners, Heather Binion and Erin Mauro, did not anticipate how crammed vendors would be in the club space. They were forced to move people into the atrium right outside the concert venue. Mauro said even though they plan, things can change as they start to play out.

“When people start rolling over, their racks take up far more space than you assume, so we just started putting people out (in the atrium),” Mauro said. “It wasn’t necessarily planned this way. But I think it gives everybody a little bit more space to move around.”

The BeatNook started in August 2020 as a vintage seller at Syracuse Antique Exchange, and in March 2021 they decided to start organizing their own markets. Many markets like the Funky Flea exchange ceased in recent years, so the BeatNook filled its place, Binion said.

The company organizes their markets at venues they’ve built relationships with because the vintage scene and music scene are close, Binion said. She and Mauro have hosted their markets at the Westcott Theater and Harvey’s Garden prior to the Song & Dance.

Binion’s husband, Eric Binion, owns The Song & Dance. The couple has always wanted to host an event at the venue together, and he had wanted to have a clothing market at the club. He was the inspiration behind The BeatNook market, Binion said.

Because of how close the Syracuse vintage community is, Johnson described the events as “family reunions.” She said some of her friends with really successful shops are so busy with work that she only sees them at the markets.

Newer vendors, like Eyan Underwood of Wondrr Vintage, can learn things from other market vendors. He made new friends at “The Classic,” he said.

“I love picking people’s brains on like ‘Where’d you get this? What’s a good way to do this?’” Underwood said of other vendors. “The more I meet new people, the more this kind of grows for myself.”

Underwood works at Promise Zone, an academic program for kids, during the week, and selling vintage allows him to dive into more things he’s interested in, like the ‘90s and 2000s and NBA apparel. He started selling vintage clothing six months ago and has already seen the scene grow, he said.

Like Underwood, Nate Hoffmann’s store, Old Dorp Vintage, is a side hustle. He works at a Revolutionary War museum and American High as a filmmaker. While Hoffmann has The BeatNook’s markets before, this is the first time he’s sold his collection.

“A lot of what I collect is men’s workwear from 1930 to 1990, taking that masculine stuff and getting it out to nonmen, people from the trans community,” Hoffmann said.

To set the atmosphere, Binion and Mauro wanted to create a market with a different and more “intimate with party vibe.” They played a curated playlist with ‘90s and 2000s music like “It Was A Good Day” by Ice Cube and had special cocktails at the bar like “Poppin’ Purple Rain.

The BeatNook caters to the vendors, Binion said. While they charge a vendor fee, the advertisement to get customers to the markets is what sets them apart. “The Classic” has a billboard on Erie Boulevard and organizers spend a lot of time promoting the event on social media, Binion said.

The BeatNook’s curation of vendors means customers will find a ton of unique items that are all one of a kind because it’s vintage, Binion said.

“A vintage market has a unique opportunity to be super noncompetitive,” Johnson said. “If you go to an artisan market, and you have four polymer clay earring makers, people are only walking out of there with one polymer clay earring.”

Hoffmann feels supported selling at “The Classic” for his first market. Even just being next to other vendors who expressed support made him feel welcome. Binion said The BeatNook hopes to mobilize the vintage community so vendors can use the markets as networking events.

“We’ve proved that we can put on cool events so people keep coming back, and we also through the curation of these really interesting and unique vendors, too,” Binion said. “I think we’ve proven that we’re putting together a cool place to shop.”

Published on November 5, 2023 at 9:56 pm

Contact Rosina: rlboehm@syr.edu