When life gives you lemons...Sell 'em at the swap meet!

Howdy Blogger Buddies!  I have had a whirlwind of a January so far and some big changes for the New Year.  I had a super holiday with my family and friends, and a nice long break off of work because the shop I work at closes from Christmas Eve to New Years Day.  When I did go back to work for the first day in 2012, my boss handed out some bad news, my hours were to be cut in half due to the lack of business.  I'm now at work every other day which sucks for my income, but is working wonders on my mood!  I had been getting pretty tired of my job, my bosses and being stuck in a dreary shop all day when the whole world was going on outside.  So, whaddya do when life gives ya lemons?  You collect up all the stuff you have accumulated over the years and hit the swap meet!

I have fantasized over and over about quitting my day job and becoming a swap meet seller.  Heavens knows, I have enough stuff in my apartment to sell!  My home town has a really amazing Wednesday swap meet (aka Flea Market for you East Coasters) at the fairgrounds which is literally situated right next to the beach.  Since I'm part-time now at the day job, I requested Wednesdays as one of my days off.   I'm actually getting a shot at Swap Meeting and I LOVE IT! I've been there two weeks already and will be going back tomorrow for my third time! 

Here are some pics form my first week at the Swap Meet by the Sea.

 The first week I sold a lot of stuff.  One guy bought $80 in vintage clothing alone!  My prices are very reasonable and there is always room to bargain with me :-)

 I took these pics 1/2 way through the day and by noon I had already sold about 40% of what I brought.

I have since gone through my collections some more and pulled more things to sell, as well as reinvesting some of my earnings back into buying more merch.  I actually get to shop at sales as part of my job now!  It brings a whole new purpose to the weekend sales I hit.

 I have met a lot of friendly shoppers and so far, all of the vendors that have been my neighbors are very friendly as well.  I was concerned about how I would be received as a new kid on the block but so far so good!

I have a small flat bed trailer that I load up with goodies and tow with my old Dodge station wagon.  I get a lot of people who just stop to talk to me about the old car and then end up buying something too.  Heh heh!

How about this dapper fella?  He was bought by a lady for her daughter who lives in Vegas.  You never know what wild and weird stuff I'll bring to the swap!

I was too busy last week to take pics of that set up.  My dad contributed a lot of merchandise to the booths as well because he is moving to a smaller house and has to downsize his sizable collections of movies, books and what-not.  He is a collector too (I guess the apple didn't fall to far from the tree on that one!)  I look forward to Wednesdays each week now and can't wait to get out there in the California sunshine and sweet ocean breeze to peddle my wares.  If you live anywhere near Ventura and have a free Wednesday, stop in and say hi!

Rose Bowl Sum Up

Last weekend I had the amazing opportunity to vend at the iconic Rose Bowl Swap Meet with the very lovely miss Jenny Pea!  It was a loooooooong hot day in LA but it was an absolute blast!  I managed to snap a few pics in between sales and socializing.  Take a look! 

 Here I am inside our packed booth.  Between Jenny & I we had quite an assortment of good stuff!

 Train cases!  They were in abundance all across the swap meet.  I only managed to sell the burgundy one...for $5.00

 Jenny had some nice dead stock chrome & lucite light fixtures and a beautiful teak bedroom set, but buyers were fickle and that stuff came back with us. 

 Miss Jenny and the acres of swap meet sprawling out behind her.  Let me tell you that place was HUGE!

 More of the beautiful teak and a portable guitar as well as the black velvet staple, a bull fighter.

Surprisingly none of the Sci Fi books sold.  Which is ok, I said a secret prayer that no one would buy them so I could keep them.  Prayers answered!

The kitchen stuff sold like hot cakes, as did the random clothing & accessories out there.

More random goodies pictures above.  We both did pretty well, I made enough to keep me afloat till payday and gained some valuable experience & knowledge.  One of the things I learned is that LA types have deep pockets and you can really mark-up your wares compared to my local swap meets.  Really, all of the vendors there specialize in certain things.  One booth may be all denim clothing, another leather and one all wrought iron stuff. They have done all of the heavy pickin' and are presenting you the buyer, the cream of the crop.  As a buyer, you can't walk 3 feet without tripping over something amazing, but you better be prepared to shell out for it.  As a seller, well its paradise!

I didn't spend a cent on items, just food (girl gotta eat!) so I really didn't walk around too much.  Next time maybe I can get more pics of other vendors.  I really hope there is a next time too!