Flea market
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A flea market or swap meet is a place where vendors come to sell or trade their goods. The goods are usually inexpensive and range in quality depending on several factors, which might include urban or rural location, part of the country, or popularity or size of the flea market. The car boot sale is similar to a flea market, but is more popular in the United Kingdom.
The vast majority of flea markets in rural areas sell goods that are second-hand. Larger selections of newer but usually inexpensive items can be found at some of the larger or more urban flea markets. They have also sometimes been used as an outlet for bootleg movies and music or counterfeit goods such as clothing, shoes, handbags, and fragrances. The semi-spontaneous nature and vendor-oriented open-market layouts of flea markets usually differentiate them from thrift stores. Some flea markets offer concerts and carnival-type events to attract shoppers. Most flea markets are closed during the winter months in the Northern states and are open all year in the Southern States.
Flea markets have analogous specialty counterparts in gun shows, hamfests, and computer shows, which offer new and used merchandise for gun, ham radio, and computer enthusiasts. Like the general flea markets, they offer surplus goods.
Some television shows focus on the appraisal of second hand goods often found at flea markets that are worth far more than the buyer paid. The most popular of these shows is Antiques Roadshow in the United Kingdom, which spawned American, Canadian, Swedish and Dutch versions of the show.
The original flea market is likely to be the Marché aux puces of Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris. It is a large, long-established outdoor bazaar, one of four in Paris. They earned their name from the flea-infested clothing and rags sold there.[citation needed] From the late 17th century, the makeshift open-air market in the town of Saint-Ouen began as temporary stalls and benches among the fields and market gardens where ragpickers exchanged their findings for a small sum.
