Business of the Month: 3rd & B’zaar, 191 East 3rd Street

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We are not qualified to tell whether our May Business of the Month, 3rd & B’zaar (191 E. 3rd St., btw. Avenues A and B), constitutes a strict application of Buddhist teachings on bhavati or “becoming.” But it does reveal a deliberate embrace of change and experimentation. The owners of this exciting vintage store have refused to treat its operation as a settled matter, opting instead to allow contributions from a fluid community of collaborators to shape the store’s ongoing evolution. So while a visit to 3rd and B’zaar may not bring you Enlightenment (although it may!), it will certainly reward you with a revolving selection of fun and funky vintage merchandise that, in their second (or third) incarnation, may just show you the path towards sustainable stylishness.

3rd & B’zaar is the brainchild of Maegan Hayward and Alex Carpenters, the owners of our October 2018 Business of the Month East Village Vintage Collective, a cornucopia of affordable second-hand wear and miscellanea sprung from a fortuitous marriage of Maegan’s shopping compulsion, her dreams of selling vintage apparel, and a chronically vacant storefront in the building where she lived. In November, 2020, the store welcomed a sibling, 3rd & B’zaar, also born out of a crisis that Maegan treated as an opportunity.

The world ground to halt during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and holiday markets along with it. Many of Maegan’s friends were consigned to their home, their jobs in hiatus, their ventures sidetracked, and their tolerance for idleness tested. These circumstances gave Maegan, a tireless promoter of the local retail community, the idea of renting a place with others and running it as a collective pop up holiday market. Together with Alex, she found a space and put the word out about the plan. In short order, they heard from several dozen vendors eager to join.

Maegan and Alex based the model for the new market on the initial conception of East Village Vintage Collective, back when it operated as a collective of vintage vendors. The main difference was the diversity of the participants. The pandemic made the idea of a pop up appealing to a wide variety of people, not just sidelined seasoned vendors, but also folks considering a career change and hobbyists in need of outlets for their “COVID projects.” As a result, the holiday pop up market became a wonderland of quirky eclecticism, offering an assortment of craftwork, vintage wear, second hand knick knacks, craftwork, and local artwork. And it was a success. So much so that Maegan and Alex decided to follow it up with a Valentine’s Day pop up. Then, they began to occasionally open on weekends. And then, at some point, people started to propose events for the space — concerts, photoshoots, or burlesque performance — to which the couple typically responded, “why not?” Before long, 3rd & B’zaar had become a full-time pop-up market and event space.

The periodic nature of 3rd & B’zaar has entailed, by design, regular turnover among vendors. Some owners might view this as a challenge. But Maegan and Alex regard it as one of the store’s main advantages. On the one hand, it allows the space to operate as an incubator, offering fledgling retailers a taste of the business and an opportunity to try out products before moving on to open up their own shops (as some have) or to a different venture altogether. On the other, it provides the market with a constant renewal of vendors and a fresh supply of product lines and ideas. Nonetheless, Maegan and Alex has made it a point to keep steering the model towards whatever works. Consequently, the operation of the store has evolved. Mindful of the success of vintage sellers and of the synergies that attend the right mix of vendors, the couple has experimented with extending the duration of the pop up periods and with bringing in more vintage retailers.

Currently, 3rd & B’zaar operates on a 6-month cycle, during which eight vendors, including Maegan and Alex, operate and staff the market collectively. Everyone has the keys to the store and is free to make display and programming decisions in coordination with the others. The vendors cover a gamut of vintage merchandise, from Harley t–shirts and ‘90s colored leather jackets to costume jewelry and lingerie.

They also bring with them different sensibilities and ideas about programs to host, types of products to sell, and popup guests to invite. This has further enhanced the dynamism of the market and allowed vendors to take inspiration from each other’s work. A shopper who swings by 3rd & B’zaar will therefore encounter not only the diverse selection of vintage articles sold by the current vendors, but also, depending on the day, a tea bar, where people mix their own teas, a hand-painted design manicure station, a make-your-own charm bar, or a vintage magazine collage session where you make your own art.

Maegan and Alex appreciate the evolution of 3rd & B’zaar over the past few years and feel good about the current model, despite its inherent instability. Pop up markets, after all, attract vendors who value the flexibility of a temporary arrangement as they figure out their next move. The couple, however, prize the energy that each fresh wave of vendors has brought to the market, as well as the burgeoning network that has formed through the store’s growing list of past and present collaborators. Maegan attributes both to the store’s openness and flexibility, which she sees as 3rd & B’zaar’s greatest virtues.

We don’t know what the future holds. But the model works! We like people making the store their own while respecting what it was before they got there. East Village Vintage Collective was always community-based. But 3rd & B’zaar is a community space. You never know what’s going to happen here!

For its mindful acceptance of change as a fundamental feature of life and retail, and for its community-oriented commitment to giving used wares a new life (and making us look good in the process), we are thrilled to name 3rd & B’zaar our May, 2025 Village Preservation Business of the Month.

What special small business would you like to see featured next? Just click here to nominate our next one. Thank you! #shoplocalnyc

Here is a map of all our Businesses of the Month: