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A Flea for All: Flea markets are attracting quite a few first-time vendors
Journal photo by David Rolfe
There are vendors aplenty at the Davidson Farmers Livestock & Flea Market in Lexington.
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Published: August 24, 2008
Ben and Wanda Daggs spent last year driving to trade shows up and down the East Coast to market their line of lifejackets for children.
This year, they are staying closer to home. The couple began renting a weekend booth a month ago at Cooks Flea Market on Patterson Avenue in Winston-Salem in hopes of saving on gas and reaching a bigger customer base for their products, sold under the Aquadux brand name.
They are not alone. With a slowing economy, flea markets around the country are attracting more vendors, with many of them newcomers to this type of retail marketplace.
"This gives us a venue where we see a lot more people," Ben Daggs said.
It's also cheaper. Trade-show booths can cost as much as $1,500 to $3,000 for a weekend, compared with $40 to rent a booth at Cooks.
Vendor counts at flea markets around the country were up 2.3 percent between January and June, compared with the same period last year, according to the National Flea Market Association in Torrance, Calif.
The number of shoppers was up 2.6 percent.
"In a down economy, we do well," said John Schoen, the association's executive director.
In terms of vendors, people usually set up shop at weekend flea markets and then expand into weekday flea markets after they discover that they can be their own boss, make their own money and work when they want. "It's all about entrepreneurship," Schoen said.
Flea markets are also seeing new types of vendors, drawing banks, real-estate companies, mortgage companies and automobile-dealership groups who are looking for new ways to reach customers in a tough economy.
"From my understanding, they get the contacts and leads then they follow up during the week," he said.
But the flea-market business is also being hit by higher gas prices, which have kept some customers home.
In Lexington, Kevin Berkley, the president of Farmer's Market Flea Market on Berrier Avenue, and Randy Berrier, the manager of Davidson Farmers Livestock & Flea Market on Livestock Market Road, said that customer counts are down at their flea markets compared with this time last year.
The number of vendors is up 10 percent to 20 percent, but they Are not setting up long-term operations.
"We have more vendors than we normally do," Berkley said, "but we're not seeing monthly rentals. We're seeing weekly rentals."
The vendors are facing their own tough times. Berkley said that a lot of people in the area do not have jobs and they are trying to sell items from their homes at flea markets to offset income lost to job cuts.
Archie Vines of High Point and Donnie Hutchins of Thomasville recently set up booths at Davidson Farmers Livestock & Flea Market. Both vendors lost their jobs this year.
Vines said that sales have been slow for his stock of "everyday items," such as tape, lip balm and notebook paper, but, Hutchins said, business is good for sunglasses and jewelry.
Still, higher gas prices don't help his bottom line as he sells items at six different flea markets a week.
"Some of the markets I go to are an hour and a half away," he said.
He is not the only vendor traveling. The annual VFW Gun Show Labor Day Flea Market in Hillsville, Va., expects a 10 percent increase in vendors over last year's 250,000 to 300,000.
The flea market was started in 1967 by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1115 of Hillsville and is now one of the biggest flea markets in the Southeast. The whole town is turned into a flea market over the Labor Day weekend.
In Winston-Salem, Cooks Flea Market has about 550 booths and stays full. However, owners Cathie and Jack Hooks said that the number of vendors on their waiting list this summer is longer than usual, at more than 50.
One of the longtime vendors at Cooks, Jan Sinclair said that it can be a tough business to break into. She manages Petrivelli's, which primarily sells handbags and jewelry.
She said that newcomers should not depend on a flea market for their entire income.
"It's tough because you've got to put every dime you put into it back in it the first year or two, so you can have inventory. If you don't have good inventory, you're not going to make any money."
"You need at least three months to figure out things," said Vick Chadha, a co-owner of Unique Corner, which sells such goods as luggage, hats and leather wallets. "If something does not work out for you, you don't have to stick with the same merchandise. You can switch around."
Brenda and Tom Hemric, the owners of BJ's Handcrafted Hematite Magnetic Jewelry for natural pain management, said that people should scope out the types of products at a flea market and come in with something different.
"You've got to find your niche," Tom Hemric said. "If you don't do that, you're going to be wasting your money."
■ Fran Daniel can be
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