At U-Mall in NYC, Vintage Treasures Are Sold Out of a Moving Truck

Glancing contained in the again of the 15-foot U-Haul truck parked close to McCarren Park within the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn on Sunday, you may assume somebody had moved in.

There was a chrome-legged sofa positioned in entrance of an ornamental folding display screen. A blue Persian-style space rug lined the ground; cabinets crammed with graphic T-shirts and colourful glassware sat on one aspect of the truck; and a clothes rack filled with vests, skirts and jackets lined the alternative aspect.

However what seemed to be a shoebox-sized studio was really a makeshift retailer. Most gadgets within the truck had been on the market, together with the sofa. It was designed by the Italian architect Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia, a high-end furnishings firm, and it price about $4,000. (It was not bought.)

Further wares had been being hawked on a close-by sidewalk, together with classic sweaters, coats and footwear, in addition to rings, earrings, necklaces and bracelets (beginning at $36) designed by Ashley Volbeda, 34, who was promoting jewellery from her line, Aveta.

Ms. Volbeda, who lives in Queens, was one in all eight sellers tapped by Gerald Ortiz for the purchasing occasion, a form of outdoor-market-meets-stoop-sale that he has named U-Mall.

Mr. Ortiz, 34, a mode commerce author at GQ who lives in Brooklyn, began organizing the U-Mall occasions earlier this 12 months, after his penchant for getting classic garments — which he has talked about in several GQ videos — developed to incorporate shopping for classic furnishings in the course of the pandemic.

“At one level,” he mentioned, “I counted someplace round 20 or so chairs in my residence.”

As an alternative of offloading his stock at a standard stoop sale, Mr. Ortiz mentioned he needed to arrange one thing that felt extra like a curated pop-up store involving different distributors. By renting a U-Haul truck, he realized that he couldn’t solely transport furnishings he needed to promote, but in addition host the sale principally anyplace he might discover parking and use the truck as an area to show the products being offered.

On the first U-Mall occasion, held in Might close to McCarren Park, Mr. Ortiz was one in all six sellers. Subsequent occasions, which have additionally been staged close to the park, have included barely extra.

“I’m usually searching for people who find themselves doing one thing that’s attention-grabbing or cool, but in addition for individuals who don’t essentially have a bodily house to showcase what they do,” Mr. Ortiz mentioned of the sellers he has tapped, who’ve included ceramic artists and designers of clothes and furnishings, together with a few of his associates.

“Just about everyone that I’ve introduced on doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar, and customarily they don’t have an enormous following, however they do one thing cool,” he mentioned.

Mr. Ortiz has largely relied on phrase of mouth and social media to promote every occasion. For all of them, he has rented a 15-foot U-Haul truck. Every rental has price him about $100, he mentioned, and he has generally cut up that price with different sellers.

About 100 individuals visited the fourth U-Mall installment on Sunday, which occurred over about 5 hours. Tony Chung, 34, an actor and mannequin who lives in Williamsburg, stopped by along with his girlfriend as they had been strolling to get bagels.

“I can inform that there’s simply this group round what they’re doing,” mentioned Mr. Chung, who bought some Syoaiya pants ($90) and a pair of leather-based Oxford footwear by WANT Les Essentiels ($50), each of which had been secondhand. “The vitality was off the charts.”

Kate Walz, 26, a clothier in Brooklyn, had a set of T-shirts on the market ($68 every) contained in the U-Haul truck. To make them, she had stills from a video of a buddy dancing to choreography by Martha Graham printed on outdated T-shirts.

“I’ve been impressed by Martha Graham for a very long time,” Ms. Walz mentioned. “So I used to be simply making an attempt to determine a manner that I might form of showcase her motion in my work.”

Nicolás Añón, a furnishings maker and the founding father of Bedroom Sink, a studio in Brooklyn, didn’t attend the latest occasion, however a foam vase ($35) and a picket stool ($350) he made had been among the many gadgets on the market. Mr. Añón, 24, who has attended previous occasions, mentioned that U-Mall had not solely helped introduce him to new clients, but in addition to a group of like-minded people.

“It’s nearly like they’re world-building in a manner,” he mentioned. “Even should you don’t make a ton of gross sales, they’ve curated an area the place individuals are hanging out and considering seeing what these totally different individuals have occurring.”

Mr. Ortiz mentioned he hopes to host one other U-Mall occasion in November, noting that he could maintain off on organizing future installments throughout colder months.

“I’d wish to maintain it going for some time, although it’s unclear to me how I’d prefer it to evolve,” he mentioned.

“I’ve had a number of shops specific curiosity in desirous to host U-Mall exterior of their storefronts,” he added. “And a pair associates who stay in L.A. have instructed that we convey U-Mall over there. We’ll see!”