The old 15th Ave QFC went back into motion this weekend after a handful of years blocke-off by fences and plywood thanks to corporate cost cutting, city politics, and the long haul to developing large-scale housing in Seattle.

The Punk Rock Flea Market didn’t seem to care about all that as vendors filled the old grocery store Saturday and even spilled out into the surface parking lot destined to eventually be part of the demolition that will make way for a planned 6-story, “S” design building with 170 new apartment units above 10,000 square feet of retail space and underground parking for 99 vehicles.

PFRM organizers have been overhauling the old grocery for weeks with a team of volunteers readying the space as the next short to mid to ???-term home for the roving flea market. This weekend’s debut market celebrated Pride and was open Saturday and Sunday featuring more than 150 vendors, organizers said.

Property owner and Capitol Hill developer Hunters Capital has been trying to keep the space activated and settled on the flea market as one solution as it finalizes the long cycles of paperwork and financing required to develop the property.

Across the street, another Hunters development is further along as the Capitol Hilltop mixed-use building is set to open. The five-story, nearly 70-unit mixed-use apartment building with underground parking for 21 vehicles has reshaped the corner of 15th and Mercer where the old Hilltop Service Station used to stand.

PRFM has a history of putting emptied spaces into motion during the often multi-year path to redeveloping key blocks of the city. In 2017, the crew took over the Central District’s former Red Apple grocery store at 23rd and Jackson when it was being transformed into a mixed-use development that now houses hundreds of apartment units and an Amazon Fresh grocery store. In 2016, PRFM was in Capitol Hill’s former Value Village before it became part of an 11th Ave office development.

PRFM’s plans to set up at the former QFC come three years after national grocery giant Kroger chopped the 15th Ave E location over COVID-19 hazard pay.

The flea market’s lease runs through the end of the year so we should see another market or two along the way.

The weekend market was part of a busy weekend of Pride events around the Hill leading up to next weekend’s PrideFest Capitol Hill with the Broadway street festival and fun in Cal Anderson Park plus the various street parties and beer gardens throughout Pike/Pine.

The Pull-A-Palooza event that @raincityfit puts on is one of the coolest pride events Seattle has and a bigger bonus is watching @HeyRodneyy absolutely crush his lifts!! pic.twitter.com/lzOSCCkOUQ

— Ace The Mayor of Capitol Hill 🏳️‍🌈 (@andrew_ace_agh) June 22, 2024

You can find the Punk Rock Flea Market at 416 15th Ave E. Learn more at punkrockfleamarketseattle.com.

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