Swap Shop

The Swap Shop is the most unique shopping experience anywhere

Category: Shop

Photos

About Us

The Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop was started by Betty and Preston Henn in November, 1963. At that time it was known as the Thunderbird Drive-In Movie Theater and featured one screen and no flea market! The opening night turned out to be a bad choice of dates - President John Kennedy was shot and killed that same day. However, in spite of an inauspicious start, the drive-in grew in both popularity and size. In 1966, Mr. Henn began utilizing the property as a weekend flea market. This was an innovation which Preston had first seen in California. However, it was the first time the concept had been tried on the East Coast. This allowed many small business owners to get their start - some going on to become entrepreneurs in their own right.

Features

In 1979 the main building was opened to create an open air food court with vender booths around the perimeter. At that time the flea market began operating Wednesdays through Sundays. In December of 1988 the building was enclosed and air conditioned. The flea market went to six days a week.
The Swap Shop was featured on a PBS special, "A Fleamarket Documentary" in 2002, and has been seen all over the world on numerous travelogue series shown on every major television market around the world.
The Swap Shop is the most unique shopping experience anywhere, and has become a landmark business in South Florida. It's not a surprise that in 1990 alone more than 12 million people visited the now world famous SWAP SHOP.

Address

3291 West Sunrise Boulevard
Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 33311
United States

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Transportation

Nearby Points of Interest

Hours

Monday: 09:00 am to 05:00 pm
Tuesday: 09:00 am to 05:00 pm
Wednesday: 09:00 am to 05:00 pm
Thursday: 07:30 am to 06:00 pm
Friday: 09:00 am to 06:00 pm
Saturday: 07:30 am to 06:00 pm
Sunday: 07:30 am to 06:00 pm

Notes

The Florida SWAP SHOP is located at 3291 West Sunrise Boulevard between I-95 and the Florida Turnpike in Fort Lauderdale and is open 7 days a week including all Holidays!