Joseph Grant stayed up for more than 25 hours to get first pick at the New York City Transit Memorabilia and Collectibles Pop-Up Shop in Gravesend, Brooklyn, on Oct. 9.
The fifth annual sale, held Oct. 8 and 9 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., lets the public buy retired signs, benches, MetroCards and other equipment from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and draws thousands of attendees. After selling the decommissioned memorabilia online, the MTA pivoted to an in-person approach. All proceeds go into the MTA’s general operating budget.
Grant grew up in Kips Bay and now resides in Bayonne, N.J. His childhood passion for the city’s transit system led him to work as a service agent for NYC Ferry. He originally planned to arrive at the sale between 6 and 7 a.m. but moved it up to 5 a.m. to ensure he would be among the earliest shoppers in line.
“By the time I get here, I’m going to be the first person here,” Grant said.
Paul Dvoskin, the MTA director who oversees the program, estimates he saw about 1,200 people on the first day. He said the sale has “just been getting bigger and bigger and better every year,” as the agency has added inventory.
The line wrapped around the block from the entrance to the Bay 50 St subway stop and kept growing hours into the event. Shoppers carried signs and benches, often multiple at once, so no one else could snag their memorabilia.
Most items cost a couple hundred dollars, but some bigger-ticket items, like MetroCard machines, cost $3,000 before sales tax. According to Dvoskin, some of the most popular items were the orange-and-yellow benches and MetroCards. R46 benches started at $650 for two-seat models and rose to $1,000 for three-seat options.
Both items reflect a system transition. The MTA has already switched from the iconic yellow MTA cards to OMNY cards and is now gradually phasing out R46 subway cars out after more than 50 years, replacing them with newer, sleeker cars.
Early arrivals said the subway system itself is the draw.
Nori Juba, who attended with his fiancée, Kelli Brooks, has meant to attend the pop-up sale for the past few years but finally made it this time. The couple, who live in Midtown, hoped to find a sign for their second home in Mexico as a reminder of New York.
For Juba, the MTA is known “maybe all over the world.”
“It’s recognizable,” Brooks said.
“There’s nothing to that scale in this world, and as much as New Yorkers complain about how lousy the service is, it’s still pretty incredible,” Juba said.
Dvoskin shared the sentiment. “There’s nothing more New York than the subway system,” he said.
Wear and tear can raise an item’s value, Dvoskin said. The more damaged something is, the more popular it can be among collectors.
“That’s what they find appealing,” Dvoskin said, “unless the sign is completely mangled up and destroyed… But some damage, there’s more dollars.”
Prices put some items out of reach. John Chubet, a real estate broker and lifelong New Yorker, came Thursday around 8:45 a.m. but left empty-handed because so many people were ahead of him.
“The line was crazy,” Chubet said.
He returned on Friday looking for signs to stage in his listings and display at home. After checking the price sheet, he said an item he was looking at was listed at about $2,500.
“That’s way beyond my budget,” Chubet said.
Last year, Grant secured a subway number plate. Before that, he bought a regular station sign, a mini station sign. Excitement overpowered the effects of his all-nighter as he smiled and showed his 2026 purchases: a door controller and a Luminator sign controller.