The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies

Flea Markets

JOEL STILLERMAN

Grand Valley State University, USA

DOI: 10.1002/9781118989463.wbeccs121

Flea markets are open air or semi-enclosed markets featuring used, antique, or new goods and including stalls housing individual merchants. They diverge from standard retail formats because they feature independent vendors, include new and used goods, rely on cash transactions, have a nonstandardized visual presentation, and governments weakly monitor sales and tax compliance. The Paris Flea Market of the 1870s was the first flea market (Miller 1988). Researchers agree that flea markets fill a gap in retailing, though they diverge in their foci on entrepreneurial opportunities for vendors, vendors' sale strategies and motivations, and shoppers' experiences.

Flea markets offer income earning or investment opportunities to low-income individuals, members of immigrant ethnic communities with little access to formal employment, or employed individuals seeking supplementary income. Low-income vendors include downwardly mobile professionals, immigrants whose legal status or language skills limit their access to formal employment, or members of ethnic minorities facing labor market discrimination. Employed vendors view sales as either a hobby or a profession; those in the latter group search for items via newspapers, catalogues, estate sales, yard sales, and wholesalers (Barros Nock 2009; Maisel 1974).

Novice and veteran vendors differ in sales strategies. Novices liquidate assets due ...