When Pierre Laborde first began peddling his handmade handbags at the Grand Bazaar flea market on the Upper West Side almost a decade ago, he often didn’t sell any bags at all. As the years went on, he was content if he sold 10 or 15 styles from his booth each weekend. So he was shocked when, one morning in mid-November, his entire stock of colorful leather bags, priced between $275 and $1200, sold out in less than 30 minutes. So many people showed up before the market opened to shop his designs that the line turned into chaos as 500 shoppers fought over the 100-plus pieces he had for sale. One woman even flew in from Augusta, Georgia, just to see him. She bought two bags and went right back to La Guardia.

“I couldn’t believe it,” says Laborde. “I’m happy and stressed.” Now, his inbox is

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