Cameron (left) and Deja Hadnot outside their new space for Swap Meet RVA. (Image courtesy the Hadnots)
The couple behind one of Richmond’s biggest swap meets are expanding their space and offerings after inking a lease in the Diamond District.
Husband-and-wife duo Cameron and Deja Hadnot, who own Swap Meet RVA, are set to reopen both their vendor market business and create a coworking and community event space across 33,000 feet at 1505 Cummings Drive near the Diamond.
The couple have signed onto a five-year lease for the space, which is near the soon-to-open CarMax Park and VCU’s Athletic Village, which began to take shape last year. Sperity Real Estate Ventures’ Jordan Sibold repped them in the deal.
The Hadnots told BizSense last week that the Cummings Drive location will serve both as the first-ever permanent home for their five-year-old swap meet market as well as a “community hub” for local people in the arts and for business education.
Cameron said the couple feel their existing swap meet and their new coworking and office space can work in tandem. They plan to begin hosting their popular swap meet in the space starting in November.
Cameron and Deja, who originally hail from California and upstate New York respectively, moved to Richmond during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wanting a joint venture and both having past entrepreneurship experience, the two founded Swap Meet RVA as a market pop-up in 2021.
With up to around 80 vendors per market, the swap meet features vintage clothing, streetwear, local art and other goods.
The market has operated in several different places around Richmond, including in a park area on 17th Street, in the Dewey Gottwald Center and, most recently, at Main Street Station, where it runs its market outdoors between the train tracks when the weather gets warm.
The market also occasionally pops up at Monroe Park. Now in its outdoor season, the market currently garners around 75 to 80 vendors and operates bimonthly.
As the market has continued growing in popularity over the past few years, Deja said finding a space for the swap meet to call its permanent home was top priority. She added that when the couple moves from its outdoor season to its indoor season each year, they have to cut around 30 percent of their vendors just to fit in their rented spaces, exacerbating the issue.
“We started from probably around 20 vendors and just grew it over time,” Deja said. “We’ve been constantly on the hunt for our own space.”
And with half a decade under its belt, the two said they began seriously reassessing last year what else they could do with their swap meet.
“We wanted our impact to increase. A big thing is we’ve grown so many real, depthful relationships with the vendors, and there’s always this constant thing of like, ‘There’s more that we can do,’” Deja said. “Not having our own space was a constant block.”
“We did our first five years of our swap meet … we’ve gotten to that mountain top. Well, what’s the next five (years)?” Cameron added.
For the Hadnots, the answer to that question is a space that can house both the swap meet and some new offerings, courtesy of the nonprofit status they achieved for Swap Meet RVA in 2024, that has remained mostly dormant until now.
Swap Meet RVA will utilize around 3,300 square feet of existing office space in its new building as rentable space for coworking, along with several office suites. Cameron said the couple feel there’s a built-in audience for the space because of the swap meet, and sees potential for the suites to be filled by locals in creative industries like fashion and art.
“Whether it comes to styling, fashion … we’ve really generated a pretty unique community and crowd (at the market),” he said. “We’re utilizing the market to get the word out. We’ve built that community and the community is there.”
Cameron added that the office and coworking space can also serve as rentable space for local organizations. He said the couple envisions workshops and seminars for small businesses and entrepreneurs run by them and by other organizations.
Other ideas include a community fridge and programming for local kids to come learn about entrepreneurship or how to sell and market their own item. Deja said that when the two have visited their children’s schools for Career Day, many students often don’t realize that they can make a living from selling items.
“To provide that information for free would be amazing. We’ve actually even talked with the city about having their people come down and really explain how to fill paperwork out … how to make sure you’re covered with your commerce license,” Cameron added.
The Hadnots will be utilizing the remaining 30,000-some square feet of the building as its main space for the swap meet. It can also be used as event space for other organizations to rent out occasionally, Deja said.
And though the market will no longer need to cut any vendors when it moves inside during the winter months, Cameron said the couple will still cap its vendor limit at its current outdoor limit of around 80 vendors.
Deja said the couple’s priority is to get the office and coworking space up and running over the next few months, and then to move the swap meet to Cummings Drive by November for the indoor season. Swap Meet RVA will continue to operate at Main Street Station over the next few months as the Hadnots work to open in their Cummings Drive space.
She added that the couple plan to keep operating the market on a bimonthly basis in the new location. It will operate outside on the property when the weather is warm.
Cameron said that the couple are also currently applying for grants and looking for funding for the nonprofit. He added that they will use much of the funding they make from the market to get the nonprofit aspect off the ground.
“I think one doesn’t exist without the other at this point,” he said.
Prior to Swap Meet RVA moving in, the Cummings Drive building was home to cabinet maker Architectural Outfitters, which has since relocated to 2310 Magnolia Road per the company website.
