The Thrill of the Hunt at Monger’s Market

John Hiden knows it’s overwhelming. The wheeled carts, the wire baskets; the metal racks and random hardware; the balusters and ubiquitous flat-file cabinets; the rows of factory lights with dusty metal shades.

“I see it. They come in and get that glazed-over look,” says the owner of Mongers Market, the industrial salvage and antiques emporium where Hiden and some eighty other dealers peddle a dizzying array of wares ranging from vintage glassware to school bleachers. Wedged between I-95 and the Metro North tracks in Bridgeport, the former factory space is open to the public on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and by appointment on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The former owner of Stamford’smulti-vendor Hiden Galleries devotes about a third of the market’s 75,000-square-foot sales floor to the discarded innards of worn-out factories, institutions, and office buildings. Another 50,000 square feet on the second and third floors, closed to the public, is filled, too. Because the auctions and clean-outs Hiden buys from are generally take-one, take-all affairs, he doesn’t return from a salvage trip with one Holophane light or a single wooden spool. He comes home with tens, sometimes hundreds.

For one-of-a-kind pieces, there’s the rear annex. Here, individual mongers display an eclectic mix of vintage furniture and artwork, rugs, clothing, jewelry, and collectibles. Pricing is equally indiscriminate: some sellers will haggle; others stick by their tags. Most also sell online, but nothing quite matches the dazzling sensory overload of walking the market’s aisles, a factor that has Hiden considering an admission charge come fall. There may be steamer trunks, organ pipes, and wall-to-wall doors—but, notes Hiden, “At the end of the day, what I’m selling here is the experience.” 

Mongers Market, Bridgeport, mongers-market.com