Well if that means chicago, its an amazing city
2 Likes
I lived in Chicago from 2008 to 2009 and I found it to be one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever lived in and it was remarkably memorable how beautiful the time I spent there was
2 Likes
We have a flea market near here. It’s an outdoor area that’s covered and open to the elements. It’s only open during the weekend. I haven’t been in ages.
We went to a thrift store the other day. They mostly had women’s clothes. A little men’s but nothing in my size.
2 Likes
I went to another flea market today. I got two jeans, 2.5€ each and so it was total five €. They are also a religious flea market and they receive donations from people and the flea market is run by volunteers. Their money goes also to different missions they have around the world. I am wearing my leather jacket (15 €) I purchased at yesterday’s flea market nine years ago. Although I may have gained some weight, this leather jacket fits me well. I have many leather jackets that I have purchased at different flea markets during these 21 years that I have been here in my little town in Eastern Finland.
How our flea market system functions
It is actually quite simple. A person rents an indoor table for one week at first. After this the person brings items to be sold and places a piece of paper with the table number and the item price in all items at this rented table. Then customers can come and choose items and then take these items to the flea market operator. People trust that other people are not stealing items. The customer pays items and the flea market operator saves this piece of paper in their storage. After a week as passed the person who rented the table comes and the flea market operator counts the total euro sum of items sold using these pieces of paper. The operator pays the total sum minus the table rent to the person. These flea markets are all indoor markets because our winters are so long. There are also other types of flea markets.
I made a language mistake, should have been ‘After a week has passed the person …’
How religious flea markets operate …
The religious flea markets get their products when people are donating items that they do not use any longer. These products may be small ones such as rings, necklaces or they can be as big as pianos, beds, tables and so on. These flea markets have often a lot of clothes such as jackets, jeans etc. When they get these donated items the flea market operator determines prices to all items and attaches a price sticker to the product. Then the operator places products to specific locations at the flea market. When a customer comes a product can be chosen and the customer may take the product to the cashier where the product is paid. The prices of products can be negotiated and the customer may get product cheaper than specified in the price sticker. Most profits from operating these religious flea markets go to different missions that the religious organization may be involved in around the world such as reducing starvation in Africa.
Then there are other markets (x). These operate in the same way as the religious markets with one difference, they do not channel their profits to any missions and they just keep their profits enabling them to operate. There are certain items such as old and used bicycles that are not taken by the religious markets but are taken by these x markets. I have donated my old and broken bicycles sometimes to one x market and they take these bicycles and try to repair these donated bicycles for selling the bikes to their customers. Also the operators of the ordinary flea markets (as described earlier) may take or purchase items to be sold at their flea market. The x markets may also recycle items such as dishwashers etc. similar bigger items.
And then there are those typical old items sales stores. These operations buy their products and try to sell these products to make some profit. It is a tough market for them today and one operator just commented that they are running their old items sales place as a hobby. People may go and sell their items to these operations.
We have currently
3 ordinary flea markets
4 religious flea markets
3 x markets
3 old items sales places
So we have total 13 different markets where people can buy or sell old and used items. I think that people may save a lot of money by purchasing items at these different markets. For example, I have got all my furniture from a few flea markets including the x markets and for example the price of my used chair was just five (5) euros and I have sat on this chair close to 10 years and it still serves its purpose.
It is midnight already and I have now concluded my postings to describe our different market. Somehow I like to stay up and write when it is late. It is so quiet and peaceful and thoughts just keep coming to my mind. I did also light my candle earlier in the evening.
This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.