Urban Bazaar was founded by local artist Briana Bers in 2010 to sell handmade crafts and gifts produced by people like herself. The store, located 1371 9th Ave in the heart of the Inner Sunset, has grown to four employees and a bursting collection of local works. 

So this weekend it will be doing something special – hosting its fourth annual Vagabond Indie Craft Fair, featuring more than a dozen local artists.

For one vendor, whose art already adorns the walls of Urban Bazaar, the craft fair will double as a launch party. Nidhi Chanani, a popular freelance illustrator and artist, will be debuting her first-ever children’s book during the event. Bers points to this as a highlight of the fair. “Nidhi has a huge following of her work and is such an amazing person and artist,” she says.

Given the size of the shop and staff, this event may seem like a relatively large undertaking for a small local business, but Bers is undaunted. “I am horrible in terms of tracking the actual number, but I know it has definitely grown in terms of attendance," she tells us. "I love that we get folks asking about it year 'round and getting excited for it in June.” 

When we asked Bers about her motivation for starting and maintaining the fair on top of running her day-to-day business, she brought up the philosophy that lead her to open Urban Bazaar in the first place.

“After opening the store, we realized that there are so many creative folks out there, that we unfortunately cannot carry them all,” she explains. “So we decided to do a craft fair and open it up to folks who either sell with us already, so they could feature their other works, [or] to folks we didn't work with, to help get them out to the public. This city is full of amazingly talented individuals and we just love to help spread the awesomeness and share the creative love. And everyone loves a good craft fair!”