Depends. I will drive for good sales, or if nothing is worthwhile around me. I live in a town of 50K, so it isn't always a place for good sales. But there are two good cities within an hour, and I can always run some errands while I am there.
I go to two different flea markets. Thursday's is about 50 miles away, but 35 or so of those are in the direction of my workplace, with only 15 being extra. Friday's is only 15 miles away, but it's on my way to work. I generally skip Saturdays for getting stuff down around the house. Sunday I hit the same flea as Friday, so 30 miles RT, 45 miles for the week. My fleas are tremendous so I am rarely skunked, but I have to be honest, I am not a goals-oriented picker. I just like getting out and looking as part of my lifestyle and routine. I'm not a total idealist. I would probably consider 120 miles a lot if I wasn't finding anything good week in and week out, but this is a very subjective matter.
Ummm, we have considered that more than a few times
This area really needs a good junk/ ES/vintage finds/ vintage furniture store here.I like in a small town of ~15k people, next town or city is 15 tourist packed miles away. PreCOVID going to out of town sales was pretty regular almost every Sat, then run errands, we would even occasionally cross in to Outlaw territory. Nowadays, we rarely go to the nearby city, prefer the town north. Less options, but we usually get back before traffic is stupidly crazy. And it's gotta look good for us to leave town, which is about 9 miles wedged against the ocean.
Yup, prov is right. The big city is on hard times. But I find that my best finds come from agricultural/county areas. In the big city/suburbs people usually are more concerned with stuff accumulating and so they clean up periodically. Whereas in rural settings, they let things accumulate in their barn/outbuilding. I do find some things in the suburbs at estate sales but my best picks have been in the countryside . I’m lucky in that I live on the edge of suburbia and agricultural land so I can have my pickI live in a town of about 15,000, and it is a 40 mile round trip to the nearest real city, and 75 miles to the nearest large city. I try to stay local, and there is a monthly flea market about 10 miles from my house. That is where I pick up most of my finds, but garage and estate sales are productive, too. They have better prices than the flea, and are the source of much that appears at the flea.
I stop at the Restore when I am in the nearest real city shopping or on other business. bmwrd0 usually leaves something behind for me to buy.
There are a couple of good swap meets at the regional farm equipment museum each summer. I have missed the huge auto swap meet in the big city the last couple of years because of a damaged knee that is scheduled for replacement this Fall. I hope to be able to make it next April.
Smokeshow doesn't complain, but he lives in a big city that is rapidly deteriorating. Opening any kind of store is problematic there, as homeless squatting (in more ways than one), vandalism, littering (including drug needles and pills) and theft is rampant, causing even Walmart to abandon the city. The police are overwhelmed (and decimated by defunding) and the local DA refuses to prosecute shoplifters. He will be better off hosting garage sales until things change.
Wonder how many people saw them and were offended because of the swastikas without realizing what they really were?
At a flea market, at least the flea markets around here, which are sort of like the detritus of a head-on collision between the freak show at P.T. Barnum & Bailey's Circus and a 12-Volume Set of the Encyclopedia Americana, probably nobody. But I would bet that in serious markets and auctions for serious collectibles in which those tobacco silks were present, there might be some astute caveats, similar to the way a museum would probably handle it. It seems like it should be the opposite, based on knowledge and necessity, but the flea folks aren't shocked by much (and there is plenty of actual Nazi memorabilia for sale), and the auction houses are hyperproper.
...there's the problem.
My wife thinks I'm nuts when I spend more on gas than I do for "junk"
I try to keep the math out of it.
Fully understandable. Collectors, pickers, etc would be totally ok and most likely know or be intrigued by them. General public would be in an uproar here. I hate it.
Lugz,
For awhile before the legal stores got going, there were guys selling pot and edibles at the fleas. They said, and seemed convinced, it was somehow legit. Supposedly [I didn't see it, but heard about it], some state troopers did the rounds and explained to them that it was very much not legal and that their next visit wouldn't be friendly. And that was the end of that kind of shopping at the flea, at least openly.
There are usually quite a few sales but we cull out most of them:
Same, and me too. I don't want to get sent to Band Camp again, so I'll just say there's a weird thing going on with censoring that does not conform to anything I recognize. If you're familiar with horseshoe theory in politics, that shape describes it. And I will encourage us to drop this and add that the only reason I said this much was to not let your comment go rudely unreplied to.
Yeah, I don't need help there. HAHA. I need some prohibitions!
I didn't know that! We never did meet. I used to joke I should buy one of Ryan's GJ t-shirts and see who introduces himself first. The number of former Wednesday/Lakewood people - all the Ashkenazi Lithuanian Orthodox Jews - who make the trip down to Farmingdale is impressive. I admire them. We're not looking for the same things, but they make no bones about second-hand stuff, they know how to haggle, and they move through there like they're on a mission. Also, in the post-Apocalypse, I want to be in their camp.
Ugh. There’s a vendor and his buddies at one of my fleas that likes to smoke openly without a care in the world. I hate it. I’m not talking about young punks, I’m talking about 60 year old men.
The finds were cool but the stories were just as cool.
Just a reminder that the world's longest yardsale is coming up starting the first Thursday in August. That might be worth a bit of driving for you Speedracer..... doesn't look too far from you.
www.127yardsale.com
--You're welcome down here anytime!It’s about 90 mins away from me to it. Keep saying I’m gonna go check it out. Maybe this will be the year to make it happen.Just a reminder that the world's longest yardsale is coming up starting the first Thursday in August. That might be worth a bit of driving for you Speedracer..... doesn't look too far from you.
127 Yard Sale - The World's Longest Yard Sale
The 127 Yard Sale happens the first Thursday thru Sunday in August each year. It’s 690 miles long and spans 6 states.
For some reason, its easier to post the images first, then fill in the details later.
Absolutely, leave it as-is.
Leave it as is. Adds character and gives you a cool story to tell in his memory.It’s in beautiful shape, with the exception of the fact that George apparently lacked Post-It notes, so he wrote numbers and names all over this cabinet. Common sense tells me to clean it up, but I think I will hang it in the shop exactly how it is.
