A flea market or swap meet is a type of bazaar where inexpensive or secondhand goods are sold or bartered. 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. The 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 a commercial operation including a large variety of new or used merchandise, including 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,[1] and may be associated with carnivals or concerts.[2] Some flea market vendors have been targeted by law enforcement efforts to halt the sale of bootleg movies and music[3][4] 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.[5][6][7]
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Different English-speaking countries use varying names for flea markets. In Australian English, they are called trash and treasure markets, trash and trivia or (more commonly) swap meets. In the Philippine English, the word is tiangge, believed to be a loanword from the Hokkien spoken by Chinese Filipino migrants,[8] or possibly from Nahuatl tianguis via Mexican Spanish. In India it is known as "Gurjari" or "Shrukawadi Bazzar" or even as "Juna Bazzar". .
The origins of the term are disputed, but according to one theory the Fly Market in 18th century New York City began the association. The Dutch word Vlaie, or vlie, with the v being pronounced f, meaning a swamp or valley, was located at Maiden Lane near the East River in Manhattan.[9][10] The land on which the market stood was originally a salt marsh with a brook. By the early 1800's the "Fly Market" was the principal market in New York City.[11]
The phrase "flea market" is also a common English phrase calque that literally translates the French "marché aux puces" ("market where one acquires fleas").[12]