16
HAPPENINGS
Jannah Handy and Kiyanna Stewart in front of the Bed Stuy store. Photo by
Janelle Henderson, courtesy of BLK MKT Vintage.
Bed Stuy’s BLK MKT Vintage
by CATE CORCORAN
“Curators of a collection of Black curiosities, heirlooms,
and collectibles,” as they put it, Kiyanna Stewart and
Jannah Handy founded Bed Stuy’s BLK MKT Vintage
in 2019 after years of selling online and at markets such
as the Brooklyn Flea.
The quaint space in a historic building on a busy
corner quickly attracted throngs of enthusiastic locals.
They came in to check out antique family photographs
displayed in their original frames in the windows,
political pins obscure and common from the 1960s
and 1970s on counters in the middle of the store, and
popular books arrayed in the rear of the space that
would have been familiar sights in Black households of
decades past, all attractively displayed in an inspiring
celebration of Black culture and history.
Handy and Stewart have “rebranded the antique
industry” and changed the way we “curate our homes,”
according to Refinery29. At the same time, their stores
and Instagram have created a community online and
in Brooklyn.
Objects for sale have included such treasures as a
hardcover edition of “Evidence of Things Not Seen,”
signed by the author, James Baldwin, and a vintage pin
depicting Malcolm X and bearing the legend “By Any
Means Necessary.”
Thanks to the pandemic, the physical store temporarily
shut down just a few months after opening. Meanwhile,
their Instagram account — including a photo series,
“We Been Inside,” that shows historic photos of famous
Black people in candid moments — continues to amass
an ever growing community of followers who come for
the history and culture as much as the shopping.
The couple grew up just a few blocks from each other
in East Flatbush and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens but
didn’t meet until they were both working at Rutgers University
as administrators. Now they live in a townhouse
apartment in Jersey City they have artfully filled with
collectibles.
In addition to sales, Stewart and Handy also do collaborations,
prop rentals, and interior design. Recent projects
include decorating the Manhattan apartment of friend
and sports journalist Taylor Rooks and guest lecturing
for a virtual Stanford design course called “Community
College: Designing Black and Brown Spaces.”
Why did you want to open a physical store, and how did
you pick the Bed Stuy location?
Stewart: We were founded in 2014 and it was part of our
five-year plan to open a physical space, to do justice to
the items and give them a context and a home, a physical
presence and create a flagship for what we do. Community
and making people feel seen is a foundational
component of the work. We appreciate the way digital
space allows us to grow and form a community but nothing
compares to a physical presence.
When will you reopen?
Stewart: We’re not sure yet. Some things we can’t sanitize
in the way we want to and need to because things
are sensitive and irreplaceable. It doesn’t feel smart at
this moment.
How have your lives changed since opening the store?
Handy: We opened in November, and COVID closed us
down four months after opening. We had established regulars,
neighbors and folks who would come in. It’s a major
milestone for us, it helped us put things in perspective,
and also to be grateful we’ve come thus far.
Stewart: A shift we saw was the demand on us to be
open at a particular place and time. It forced us to be