Rice's Saturday Market to Re-Open March 7

Rice's Flea Market is set to re-open their Saturday market on March 7th.

Located in New Hope, Pa., Rice's is almost 2 hours from New York, but it is known amongst vendors as a generally good market. Rice's is primarily an outdoor market which
operates every Tuesday all year round, but also hosts a Saturday market running from early spring to early winter.

For vendors, Rice's is ideal - particularly on Tuesday - because most of the shoppers in the area are a little more affluent than at many other markets. According to county statistics, the average median income in New Hope is in the mid $80K. However, a glance at th parking lot at Rice's will give you a better indication of the shoppers inside.

Rice's is not a market I visit often, but if you are a vendor living in South Jersey,
and are available on Tuesday and/or Saturday, it might be worth your while. Rental spaces range from $20 - $30 per day.

Rice's is a good alternative for vendors who are looking to expand or unload extra merchandise and for those who are tired of Cowtown, Englishtown, Collingswood, and Columbus.

For shoppers, Rice's offers just about everything under the sun.....at discount.

Check out their website: www.ricesmarket.com for more details.

So if you don't have plans and are in Bucks County next Saturday or any Saturday there-after, your might want to check out Rice's Flea Market.

Budget for Advertising

Whether you are in the Flea Market just to make a couple of bucks for the weekend or if it is your primary means of earning an income, you might want to consider allotting some time and money to advertising.


I walk around the market every weekend, but I rarely see any vendors taking advantage of all the eyes and foot traffic that might come across their booth. How is someone going to know what you are selling if you don't put up a sign?

Advertising does not have to be some Super-Bowl type of production. It can be as simple as a piece of cardboard with your price on it. I can also be just a vinyl banner with the name of your company or what you are selling. Flea Market advertising does not have to be complicated, just honest. As a vendor, you have to bare in mind that shoppers are in the market looking for something. It is your job to make sure they know you are there. So as you go about planning how to maintain your ground in this sliding economy, please remember to budget for advertising.

Approach advertising as part of the costs of doing business. Sure it is not on the scale of what you see in the magazines or on television, but letting you potential customers know you exist is just as important. You do not need to employ some 5th avenue calculation in to figuring out how much to spend on advertising. Just figure out what you can honestly afford.

Here are five cost effective ways to advertise in the flea market.

1) Print business cards (about $30 for 1000) and hand them to potential customers.
- Be sure to include the name of your business, what you sell, location in the market, and contact information

2) Make a sign that is visible from at least 8 feet so potential customers know what you have without having to come all the way to your booth or table.
- A sheet of oak tag and some permanent makers should do the trick. Get it laminated or encase the edges in clear tape so it
lasts longer.

3) If the market offers some kind of public announcement system, try to get into the rotation of ads, by offering a weekly special.

4) Make a simple flyer listing what you sell, your location in the market, and contact information that you can hand out to potential customers and past customers alike.

5) Use any or all of the free online advertising sites to let potential customers know what you sell and what market to find you.
- Try www.craigslist.com or www.kijiji.com

Again, advertising doesn't have to be overly complex, just budget it into your other expense and use the most cost effective choice for your particular item.

Happy vending.

-FMN

Real Weekend Warriors

It's about 11:40am on Saturday morning and I can easily think of a dozen places I'd rather be, but instead I'm here at Englishtown Auction sales grinding it out.

Never mind the fact that it is 28 degrees out side, even though the sun is shining bright. Never mind that my alarm clock went off at 5:45am. Never mind that my wife is home sleeping. Never mind the hour plus drive it took to get here or the week-long preparation that goes into get ready. It's just part of the weekend warrior business.

Being a flea market vendor is often an exercise in futility. But, you never know what the weekend is going to bring. So you gather your wares during the week, show up, and hope for the best. Some us go home further in the hole and others of go home with more that what we earned all week. It is a complete crap shoot.

My hat goes off to my fellow weekend warriors. Surely we could sit around the house and work on the "Honey-do" list or play touch football, but we'd rather brave the elements and make a buck in the process. Men and women alike, old and young, some employed and other retired, foreigners and U.S. citizens, all trying to earn a little extra.

Kudos to those that work 40 hours (or more) then still make it to the market on the weekend. I applaud those who run small business and stores during the week then come to the market to haggle with bargain-seekers, after we're in a flea market.
I hold up my glass to those vendors who come out with only enough gas to get them to the market, your determination is unrivaled.

Being a real weekend warrior takes a lot of guts. Vending in a flea market is not like having a kiosk in a mall or a store front. The entire process or running a stand in any market is not easy.

So whether you are in the Aqueduct Flea Market, Englishtown Auction Sales, the Boulevard Flea Market, Cow Town, Collingswood, Green Dragon, Smiley's, Bill's, or Pendergrass, keep going hard.

And when you don't feel like getting out of bed on Saturday or Sunday morning to go the market, remember that Tommy Hilfiger started out selling his jeans at Columbus Flea Market in New Jersey. Not many of us will ever see Hilfiger's wealth, but the odds are definitely in your favor if you focus on your weekend warrior status.

Fight on my fellow weekend warriors, fight on.

-FMN

Flea Markets Gaining Ground

In the retail hierarchy, flea markets have traditionally been on the bottom rung, but as the economic downturn continues to broaden, flea markets are starting to look more attractive to vendors and buyers alike.

In years past, the top of the retail food chain would generally be considered to be high-end boutiques, followed by specialty stores, then upscale malls, followed by midlevel malls and box stores. From there you have strip malls, supermarkets, corner stores, and eventually flea markets. The only thing lower down would be thrift stores, but they are in a class by themselves.

As the number or unemployed Americans nears the 5 million mark, flea market owners and vendors a poised to have a better year than most expect.

After 12 years as a vendor in flea markets in the northeast and southeast of the United States , I am of the opinion that the national economic downtown might be a boom to flea markets for three distinct reasons.

1) Shoppers can stretch their dollars further when buy at flea markets as opposed to shopping malls and grocery stores.

2) As home foreclosures soar, many one-time owners might turn to flea markets to sell their belongings as opposed to paying storage.

3) As store owners are forced to close their doors, flea markets offer an economical means to off-load inventory.

So whether your are shopper or vendor, your local flea market might be a great place to make a buck or save a buck.

-FMN

Flea By The Sea To Open May 1st

So I just got off the phone with John Hand of Thor Equities LLC, owners of Flea By The Sea, who was kind enough to share some information about this market with me. In turn, I am sharing with you.

First and foremost, Flea By The Sea will open it's tents to vendors and the public on Friday, May 1, 2009.

FBTS is a planned flea market located in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn off of Stillwell Avenue in what was once part of Astroland.

According to John, Flea By The Sea will feature 4 huge circus-style tents with 8x10 feet and 10x10 feet selling spaces inside. FBTS will be open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and will have live entertainment every weekend along with food vendors and other vendors selling just about everything under the sun.

Vendors who choose to participate in FBTS are encouraged to reserve their space from now by emailing: fleabythesea@gmail.com or calling 888-940-8881. Their website: www.fleabythesea.com will be up in a couple of weeks.



Thor Equities has allotted over $500K to advertise and push this market into the public psyche, so most of the tri-state area should be familiar with FBTS by the middle of the year.

With very few flea markets in the tri-state and the threat of the most famous ones - Aqueduct (in Queens) and the Meadowlands (in N.J.) - being shut down, FBTS is looking very attractive to vendors who are looking to expand or off-load product.

Stay tuned to this blog as we share more Flea Market News and updates about Flea By The Sea.

-FMN