Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fleamarket

Some questions about flea markets

sidr — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:28:40 -0800

I have some questions about flea markets. So I have been to a few fleamarkets in my time, and after talking with people about them I find that opinions vary widely. So I have a few questions:

1. How do *you* define a flea market? I have read the dictionary definition and the wiki entry, asked people I know, I have my own theories etc., so tell me what you think. Do the antikvaari of Scandinavia and the fancier vintage stores of San Francisco count? Does it have to be outdoors? The residents of Budapest throw out what they do not need every now and then on the street, all of them at once. Is this a flea market? I guess I am looking for common threads in what the hive mind calls a flea market. Some of you might say "the internet" and I would agree, for example.

2. Do you know of any scholarly research or articles on flea markets? Do tell. I have looked at Google Scholar, perhaps you know other resources.

3. Recommend me some interesting flea markets to visit please. For example the Japanese take on second hand+vintage+flea market junk is interesting. Perhaps its crazier in the Congo or Chile? Dunno. Tell me.

4. How small can a flea market get? Are they self similar? Is a collection of flea markets a flea market too? Do they have some structure? Etc.

I hope this is not considered chatfilter. I'd like to know what the hive mind thinks of flea markets so I thought of some questions milling in my head which is quite the flea market itself. Some of these questions seem simple to me but might be wildly different in your minds. So yeah. Also it is nice that I can select 'grab bag' in Category.

Menswear bargains along the I-75?

kaudio — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:37:25 -0800

Shopping filter: Are there any factory outlets or good deals to be had along the I-75? We'll be driving from Port Charlotte, FL to Toronto, Canada this month, and my fiancé needs new work clothes. Usually he wears a shirt and tie to work, or sometimes a golf shirt, but when he's receiving stock or other physical work his clothes get ruined easily, so he never buys "nice" dress clothes.

Before we go to WalMart for his usual cheap dress shirts and pants, are there any places we should hit up along the I-75? King Frog comes to mind (because of all the billboards for 30 miles in each direction), but I don't remember if there were actually any good deals there. Any recommendations?

NB - he's a size small/ size 15 collar -- which can be hard to find. Costco, for example, usually only has mens sizes M-XXL.

FleaMarketFilter: Looking for all Flea Markets in Europe

dripdripdrop — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:55:20 -0800

I'm looking for flea markets in Europe. Specifically we will be going through Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia (Sarajevo), Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland (Krakow) before settling in France, but any other suggestions in Europe are welcome. I'm interested in the kind of flea markets with old, random crap, not the new, cheap crap. I've been to the flea market outside Budapest on Nagykőrösi út and loved all the old nick nacks.

Please be as specific as possible about addresses. If I get a lot of answers I'll put together a Google Map for sharing.

I want to have a garage sale. I lack a garage (or yard). Is there anywhere I could go to set up shop?

zeph — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:19:51 -0800

I'm cleaning out my Columbia, SC apartment and have a lot of stuff I'd like to sell. Is there a way to do a (non-online) "garage sale" without having a yard or garage? Would it be worth it to rent a stall at a local flea market? I'd originally figured I'd just sell whatever stuff I had up on eBay or Craigslist, but it's turning out that most of what I want to get rid of seems too little and futzy to be worth putting out on eBay - and the Columbia, SC Craigslist is fairly anemic so while I will try it for some of my larger items I don't think I'll have as much luck with it as I'd like. I have somewhat of a -lot- of stuff, though (not a HUGE amount but enough to fill up a table or two), plus I'm a fairly broke grad student so I'd hate to lose the opportunity to scrounge up at least a -little- cash if I can. If I were living in a house this would be a lovely opportunity for a garage sale but I doubt the folks running my apartment complex would look kindly on me setting up shop in the parking lot (feh!).

Any thoughts on what I might do to sell my stuff locally? Could I maybe get a stall at a flea market or something - do they generally let someone set up shop for just one day (better yet, if you're familiar with Columbia and have had experience with any of the flea markets, are there any I should try or avoid?)? Is there something else I could do? Again, I know I could try Craigslist or eBay, but given that I have "a bunch of little things" rather than a few medium-to-big things it just doesn't seem like it'd be worth the effort, at least not if there -were- some alternative where I could just physically haul all my stuff out somewhere for a day where people could browse and buy in a more garage sale-y setting.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have =)

Product that will kill bedbug eggs?

annabellee — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:02:12 -0800

What can I spray on flea market/thrift store furniture to make sure I kill potential bedbugs at all life phases? Can you recommend a product with which I can spray furniture I buy at a flea market that will stay potent long enough to kill any unhatched bedbug eggs that may be lurking in cracks? I'm looking for something that doesn't become ineffective after killing any live bugs, but something that will kill the eggs as well.

(I know buying used furniture is risky re: bedbugs.)

Do I need a permit to sell stuff at the flea market?

Sijeka — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:44:04 -0800

So I have a bunch of stuff I'd like to sell on Brick Lane, London (flea market). I have clothes and various things I'd like to sell on Brick Lane on sunday. I noticed some of the street vendors (those on the pavement) have what I think looks like a permit, while others don't (i.e the people who sell illegal dvds, for example). I can't seem to find any information about permits on the internet.

Do I need one? Do I need to show up at 5 am and see? Is there any other place that's worth trying?

Thanks Mefites!

Flea market on Perry Street?

thomascrown — Tue, 08 May 2007 10:34:08 -0800

Each of the past two springs (May? June?), my girlfriend has stumbled across a flea market / street fair in Manhattan on Perry St. near Bleeker. It doesn't seem to be there every week (at least the times we've walked by), and we can't find any reference to it anywhere online. Any fellow NYC vintage-shopping folks know what she's thinking of, and when/if it might reappear?

Fleas. Cheap.

ZenMasterThis — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:42:57 -0800

Englishtown (NJ) Fleamarket: How much smaller is it likely to be this weekend than at the peak of summer? Contemplating a 3-hour car trip from CT; want to know if we should hold-off 'til spring.