Recollective looks to fill void left by closure of Mongers Market in Bridgeport
Recollective, on State Street, is less than a mile from where Mongers Market was.
A new space is hoping to fill the void for vintage and collectable shoppers five and a half months after issues with parking and building maintenance led to Mongers Market in Bridgeport to close its doors.
Recollective, on State Street, is less than a mile from where Mongers Market was. The new space hosted a "soft opening" for friends and family on Sunday, with plans to open for the general public on Saturday Nov. 22.
"We are here out of respect for Mongers, and out of respect for the vendors that were at Mongers mostly, to keep them here in Bridgeport," said John Paul O'Grodnick, the operations coordinator for Recollective.
The two-story space has 40 vendors right now - with another building to hold even more openings in a few months.
"It's incredible surreal to see everybody set up," said Ryan Matthew Cohn, who was a regular customer at Mongers Market. "There's only more to come, but to even see it in its infancy is very exciting."
"I think (Recollective) is going to have its own magic, like Mongers had its magic," O'Grodnick says.
Still, that magic will feel familiar, as 90% of the vendors at Recollective were also at Mongers Market.
"They wanted to stick together," said Molly Dryman, the director of digital marketing for Recollective. "They're like, 'if you move, I'm moving with you.'"
Zane Anthony was one of those vendors to make the move.
"It's been a really cool process, and it's great to see this building filling out, and all of the familiar faces from Mongers," Anthony said.
A few new vendors are also joining the party, including Geena Duenges, who used to shop at Mongers, and now, is able to open up her own booth called Broke Sabbath.
"It was kind of a more hobby goal of mine to be at Mongers, and it just kind of never aligned with my schedule," Duenges said. "So fortunately for me this all kind of fell into place."
There has also been an effort to make sure Recollective is designed to last. There are plans for multiple public bathrooms, a cafe inside, and a parking lot outside which is three times bigger than the one that was at Mongers Market.
"There's been a lot of thought into getting the Mongers vibe, but also a more elevated space," said Anthony, who added they will also have maps and signs around the building, so people know where they are going.
"We wouldn't have started it if we didn't think it was going to be sustainable for a long period of time," O'Grodnick said.
Recollective will be open Saturday and Sunday each of the first two weekends, then just Sundays after that. Recollective, however, hopes to add more days as time goes on.
