Vintage Marché Debuts New St. Pete Market Location This Weekend

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Vintage Marché, a monthly, three-day vintage market, is putting the finishing touches on its new Skyway Marina District space at 2906 34th Street S., which it debuts this weekend.

From Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon, about 40 vendors — including five brand-new sellers — will feature their vintage wares in the more than 10,000-square-foot space.

The market boasts “good-quality vintage, mid-century modern, every style you can think of,” Paul Donofrio, owner of Vintage Marché, told Patch. “It’s like the Disneyland of vintage.”

This weekend’s event marks the first since the market moved out of its Warehouse Arts District digs.

Long before artists and businesses flocked to the now vibrant arts district — and even before 3 Daughters Brewing opened its doors across the street — the market’s former space at 2200 2nd Ave. S. was home to Brocante Market, he said.

Donofrio was a vendor at that market for years and when Brocante’s owners decided to move on to other endeavors, he launched Vintage Marché in the same space. Many of Brocante’s vendors stayed with him.

“I took over in 2020 in January, just in time for COVID,” he said. “We had three good months and were getting some momentum and then the world got kicked with the pandemic.”

About 10 months later, the building sold. The new owner renovated the space and eventually asked Donofrio to pay triple the rent.

“They kind of pushed us out,” he said. “We basically couldn’t afford to stay there anymore, and we didn’t want to deal with construction.”

He was “lucky enough” to stumble upon the new Skyway Marina District space, “because there is not much out there for the size that we needed. It’s basically nonexistent to find a size that big,” he said.

The Skyway Marina District is a corridor on the verge of change. Right next door to the market’s new space is the Sur Club, a luxury apartment complex with nearly 300 units. Another mixed-use development with 1,500 residential units is planned for the area, according to St. Pete Rising. And the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority plans to introduce a new express bus service along 34th Street that connects to the district, Tampa Bay Business Journal reported.

“When I found this property, I was kind of stalking it to make sure it was the right fit for us and Sur…is kind of what sold me,” Donofrio said. “We watched who was going in and out of Aldi (next door.) I saw a lot of what is our demographic — younger, hip people who kind of like vintage and are into what we’re trying to do. There’s a lot of activity down here, but there’s nothing over here yet.”

Thinking back to Brocante’s early days, which preceded the Warehouse Arts District’s boom, he hopes Vintage Marché will play a similar role in the Skyway Marina District.

“We’ll do the same thing here, that city sprawl,” he said. “There’s literally gonna be thousands of apartment units right within ¾ of a mile from where we’re at and they’re all looking for good furniture.”

Donofrio has signed a long lease for the space, he added. “So, we can really grow our roots here.”