The market's nonprofit operator converted its former office at 1937 Ashby Ave. into a weekday consignment storefront — three days a week, with vendors keeping 80% per sale — as it looks for footholds beyond a parking-lot lease that can be terminated in 30 days.

At 1937 Ashby Ave. in South Berkeley, the room that used to be the Berkeley Flea Market's administrative office is now a retail floor. Since May, the market's nonprofit operator, Community Services United, has been running a consignment shop out of the converted space — three days a week, stocked by vendors who also set up in the Ashby BART parking lot on weekends, with a split that sends 80 cents of every dollar to the seller.

The shop runs Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a plan to eventually extend to Monday through Friday. Prices run from $2.50 for paper art to $250 for an African mask. The inventory rotates monthly so different vendors cycle through: paper art, Star Wars Lego sets, handcrafted jewelry, natural shea butter, plants, clothing, sunglasses. Manager Kristen Spencer told Berkeleyside, which first reported the opening, that the shop exists to give market vendors a daily sales presence — "this is their business, and that's what we want to help promote for them."

The storefront is also, plainly, a hedge. The market's current home — the parking lot outside Ashby BART — operates under a two-year agreement with BART signed in August 2025 that expires in August 2027, at a reduced monthly rent of $750 (down from $1,273 under the prior contract). That lease contains a 30-day termination clause tied to BART's planned housing development on the Ashby west lot, where the city of Berkeley has committed affordable housing subsidy for transit-oriented development. The flea market is guaranteed a future space on Adeline Street once that development proceeds — but the exact timing is unresolved. A physical address that doesn't depend on the parking lot is a different kind of security.

The market nearly dissolved last year. Community Services United sent a memo to vendors in May 2025 saying it was shutting down; it was losing roughly $10,000 a month. Vendor revenue had fallen from $264,000 in 2021 to $195,000 in 2023, and the vendor count had dropped to the low dozens. Sellers kept showing up anyway through the summer. By August 2025, CSU had renegotiated the BART lease and officially reopened, with a vendor-run management structure. Saturday counts have since climbed from around 20 to an average of 35, Artrenia Harris, CSU's president, told Berkeleyside, with peaks near 40 and Sunday counts as low as 17.

Spencer told Berkeleyside the shop also carries a corrective purpose: "There was a lot of misinformation about the market closing and disappearing." An online marketplace to let vendors post items independently is also in development, Harris said. Planned events include a vendors' appreciation day next month, a music festival in August, and a job fair and senior citizens' day.

Walk past 1937 Ashby on a Wednesday and you'll find it open. The weekend market is across the street. The former office is selling things now.