Flea Market

Flea Market

A flea market is a type of bazaar that rents space to people who want to sell or barter merchandise ranging from low quality items to bargain priced items of the highest quality or used goods.

Many markets offer fresh produce and plants from local farms. Renters of the flea market are vendors. It may be indoors, such as in a warehouse or school gymnasium; or it may be outdoors, such as in a field or under a tent. Flea markets can be held annually or semiannually, others may be conducted monthly, on weekends, or daily. Flea-market vendors may range from a family that is renting a table for the first time to sell a few unwanted household items to scouts who rove the region buying items for sale from garage sales and other flea markets, and several staff watching the stalls.

Many flea markets have food vendors who sell snacks and drinks to the patrons, and may be associated with carnivals or concerts. Some flea market vendors have been targeted by law enforcement efforts to halt the sale of bootleg movies and music or knockoff brand clothing, accessories, or fragrances.

Flea market vending, though similar in structure, should not be compared with street vending. The correlation between the two, though existent, is not exact. Flea market vending, as we know it, presents distinct elements setting it apart from street vending. Street vending takes place where a large crowd gathers and relies specifically on impulse buyers to be present, but who are in the area at the time for underlying reasons. The flea market, however, is the arena and the vendors are the show that attracts the crowds that gather for the sole purpose of buying. Flea market vending is also set in a controlled area that is governed by a self-imposed code of conduct. Unlike flea market vendors, and more often than not, street vendors do not knowingly recognize a code of conduct.