Started in 1976 as penny-jar investment on an estranged corner lot in Chelsea, entrepreneur Alan Boss single-handedly marshaled 11 vendors and over time shaped the outdoor Mecca that became known to treasure hunters worldwide as The Annex Antiques Fair & Flea Market. This renowned antiques market grew enormously and because the destination location for celebrities, prop masters, set designers, fashion designers, artists, antique-lovers, decorators, architects, and others. It was featured countless times in global print media and was the backdrop for movies and commercials. In 2006, after almost 30 years of outdoor commerce-delight and top-notch haggling, The Annex was displaced high-rise residential buildings along Sixth Avenue in the West 20's.

But Boss had foreseen the fate of the market and had already planned for a new location. After almost four years of planning with community groups and city and state agencies, Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market (HKFM) opened in May 2003 on West 39th Street at Ninth Avenue. When the Annex closed in 2006, its vendors were readily accommodated by HKFM in a new-frontier neighborhood. Located on West 39th Street between 9th & 10th Avenues and open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday all year long (weather pending), the market’s Hell’s Kitchen South location is near the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Times Square.

Named one of the top ten shopping streets in the world by National Geographic, Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market (HKFM) sets a standard for distinctive vendors, a place where collectors and top-notch hagglers including the fashion éclat, artists, celebrities, tourists, and residents shop the market for antiques, collectibles, vintage clothing, mid-century modern items, home decorations, furniture, jewelry, and more.

Alan Boss also owns the famed Antiques Garage, second of the Annex Markets. It is an indoor market located at West 25th Street between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue.

The third of the Annex Markets is only one block from the Garage. The West 25th Street Market is an outdoor market on the uptown side of West 25th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway.