Slot Machines In, Flea Market Out

Slot Machines In, Flea Market Out

Every Saturday and Sunday at 6 a.m., Aftabudeen Edun pulls his truck into an expansive parking lot at Aqueduct racetrack and unloads tiny bottles of perfume and moisturizer, lip balm and deodorant, laying them out in neat rows on folding tables.

For 16 years, Mr. Edun, a 46-year-old immigrant from Guyana who owns two cosmetics stores on Liberty Avenue, could be found, usually in the same spot, on scorching summer days and in the chill of early December mornings, selling his wares at the Aqueduct Flea Market.

But the coming makeover and casinofication of the racetrack spells the end of the line for the flea market and its 500 vendors, after more than 30 years. “The casino operation is an attempt to go upscale, and a flea market is by nature sort of downscale,” a local official said. [NYT]