Question for other Brooklyn folk

[lapsedmodernist]

So I always see people around the Bedford stop selling random crap on the street. I don't mean the vendors with the tables with the snake-shaped lighters encrusted with synthetic rubies or whatever. I mean people putting out blankets on the corners and selling a bunch of clothing and random books/CDs/tchochkes. What I want to know is, do you need some sort of permission for it, or can anyone (namely me) just do that? I have a whole bunch of stuff I want to get rid of before I move on Tuesday--clothes and books I don't want anymore. So if it's sunny, saintpeg and I want to be shopgirls. Sort of.

Comments

[of-the-refrain.livejournal.com]

i think technically you do need permission to sell stuff on the street, but i've seen it all over brooklyn, and i think there are times and places where it's tolerated... i haven't hung out around the Bedford stop much, but it sounds like one of those places.
the neighbourhood i live in in vancouver is the most brooklyn-y place in the city... my ex-boyfriend and i did this at a major intersection two summers ago and made over $300!!! no shit! and it was pretty much all books, clothes and appliances.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

wait, are you from NYC or did you use to live in NYC? How did you end up in Vancouver?

[of-the-refrain.livejournal.com]

I actually grew up in CT and did my undergraduate degree at Clark in Massachusetts and now I'm finishing up my PhD here. I do urban/cultural geography. Methodologically I'm an anthropologist though. He he. I can't wait to finish! I love Vancouver, and I've learned alot of things here, but one of them is that I'm an east coast girl at heart. Miss NY like hell. I've also fallen in love with Montreal.

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

technically, probably, since it's not your property in front of which you'd be sitting so you'd have no eminent domain rights. but were it me i'd take the risk. there are so many people who do this. you KNOW that not all of them have a permit.

if some girl stops by with two fifty year old suburban ladies (my mom and her best friend, who are visiting for the weekend), that's me!

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to figure out a place where I am reasonably sure we won't be ticketed...May involve some legwork tomorrow. I'll post the details when I know...Are you actually taking your mom and her friend thrift-shopping?

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

i might. i've invited them to come over to wb/gpt for brunch on sunday, so we'll probably walk around afterwards. my mom can look at housewears (sp??) while her friend can focus on making sure she doesn't twist an ankle as her high heel meets the broken pavement (she'll fit right in on bedford ha ha).

i think a good place would be on N 7th, towards berry. i've seen a lot of people set up what looked to be illegal shop there.

[labrujah.livejournal.com]

The word is that if you are selling books, (even just as part of your wares), you are legally ok. Otherwise you are supposed to have a permit. I think it's just one of those gray areas where the cops can bother you if they feel like it.

I have never seen anyone get in trouble there in 4 years of enthusiastic shopping that corner! Plus I did it down on Bedford on the Southside where I live with no troubles at all.

I'll probably stop by too! I cannot resist street sales.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Really?? that's very good to know about the books. I was thinking of doing it in front of my house, but I think there would be more potential customers on Bedford than in East Williamsburg. I will post where I will be holding it once I figure it out. I think tomorrow I will stop by Grandma's Best Kept Secret and Mousy Brown and ask if I can do it in front of there if I am out of the way of the door...Perhaps with Grandma's I can say that everything left over I will donate.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's good to know for the future...This one turned out kind of anti-climactic...