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The Rose Bowl Flea Market, which has been closed since March, is trying its luck with e-commerce.
R.G. Canning, which has operated the market since its inception in the 1970s, struck an exclusive licensing deal with Free People, owned by Urban Outfitters, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
“It makes sense that Free People struck up a partnership with Pasadena’s famous Rose Bowl Flea, which has been on hiatus since the start of COVID-19, to ensure that those unique items might still find their way into a forever home,” a spokeswoman for the retailer said.
The website is freepeople.com.
R.G. Canning has been trying for months to find a way to reopen amid the pandemic. But when cases in California started to spike earlier this summer as counties and the state suddenly lifted many restrictions, it seemed unlikely that the market would be back in the immediate future.
“We have been in talks with the city of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Co. concerning restrictions on a possible reopening plan of the event,” the company said earlier this summer. “The issue we have with the Rose Bowl Flea Market is the massive size of the event. We have not been able to complete a set of guidelines that meets everyone’s approval as of yet.”
Free People will not be hosting the entirety of the usual market. The tie-up is starting with about 20 vendors, all focused on vintage fashion and apparel. They will launch new products on the site on the last Sunday of every month through December, WWD reported. Homewares and furniture, a major draw of the market, will not be available.
But bringing on the Rose Bowl Flea market will not only offer at least some of its vendors the opportunity to sell goods online; it will also give Free People more of a stake in the vintage market, which it has been dabbling in. It’s also the foundational inspiration of its overall aesthetic. The brand has a very small section of vintage goods on its website and earlier this year (pre-pandemic) held vintage pop-ups inside of some stores.
It could also benefit Free People by bringing new customers to the site. The coronavirus has taken a big financial toll on parent company Urban Outfitters, which lost $138 million in the first quarter, mainly due to store closures and high returns of goods bought online. Sales of Free People alone dropped considerably, to $107 million from $186 million.
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