About Us

The Brooklyn Artery is a gift shop and community space in Ditmas Park/Flatbush, Brooklyn — carrying jewelry, cards, candles, pottery, bath & body goods, toys, and more, much of it made right here in Brooklyn or by independent artists and makers worldwide, alongside a full calendar of art, culture, and wholeness programming. What started as a small shop on Cortelyou Road in 2011 has grown, through two owners and one big move, into a multipurpose space built for both browsing and gathering, in an intimate setting made for connection.

Our Story

The Brooklyn Artery began in late 2011, when longtime Ditmas Park residents and familiar community faces Susan Siegel and Jocelyn Lucas Kirouac opened its doors on the south side of Cortelyou Road. Not long after, they settled into a cozy storefront at 1021 Cortelyou — a space that would hold ten years of neighbors, conversations, and small-batch discoveries.

In January 2020, Susan and Jocelyn passed the keys to Meredith Jacks, another Ditmas Park neighbor and longtime Artery supporter who traded 13 years as a middle school English and Special Education teacher for a new chapter behind the counter. Weeks later, the pandemic forced a four-month closure alongside nonessential businesses across the city. We reopened that June, and we've been grateful every day since to the community that kept us afloat — and helped us grow. (That original 1021 Cortelyou storefront didn't sit empty for long — it's now home to our good friends at Taylor & Co.)

Nearly three years after that, the Artery grew again. Longtime collaborator Annie Del Hierro-Jost joined Meredith as a full business partner, bringing her own deep roots as a community-engaged interdisciplinary artist, cultural promoter, and organizer. Together, they set out to build something bigger than a shop: a true cross-disciplinary, creative gathering place for Flatbush and Ditmas Park and beyond.

That vision took physical shape when we crossed the street once more — this time into the former Cortelyou Hardware store, a fixture of the block for 40 years before its 2022 closing. After a fast-moving renovation, we opened the doors to our new home at 1004 Cortelyou Road: a multipurpose space built not just to sell thoughtfully made goods, but to host the art, culture, and wholeness programming our community had been asking for all along.

Today, The Brooklyn Artery is a community-driven space offering accessible art, cultural, and wholeness programming in an intimate setting — for our Flatbush/Ditmas Park neighbors and everyone who walks through our doors. We're building a platform where artists, makers, creatives, and neighbors can collaborate, connect, and support one another, because we believe community is stronger when it's built together. Supporting local makers and artists has always been at our core — from the goods on our shelves to the programming we host.

What Happens Here

Our calendar is always evolving, but you can typically find us hosting a monthly craft circle, artist meet-ups, and our Spanish listening club in our Backspace, live music and performance, interdisciplinary readings and storytelling nights, hands-on art workshops, sound baths, moon circles, mindfulness sessions, and a yearly clothing swap — plus seasonal markets, maker pop-ups, and artist talks that bring our creative neighbors together. There's almost always something happening. You don't need to buy anything or sign up in advance to stop by — come browse, sit in, and see what's on! :)