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Saturday, February 21.
Location: 25555 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward, CA
The Chabot College Flea Market is held the third (3rd) Saturday of each month, rain or shine. Admission is FREE and parking is FREE (Parking Lot B only). Click here for more info and a vendor application. $35 for a regular sized space. Misleading info on website: Average Size Space: Standard = 17 x 34 Plus = 25½ x 51. I don't think so. More like 15 wide x 15 deep.
CHABOT COLLEGE PENNY MARKET. Weather reports look pretty decent; apparently no rain until latter part of day. We drove a 'long' way for this one, maybe 1 1/2 miles and arrived there around 6:40, just when it was becoming light and of course, the coldest time of day, which really wasn't too bad. Very mild, no breeze. Not really too many vendors setting up at that time and loads of empty spaces. I like to arrive at these flea markets early because these spaces are so tight and if there are occupants on both sides of me, I would have major problems unloading my stuff from the back of my van.
I was going to refer to this place as a 'dollar market' but many people had stuff selling for under a dollar. Many booths had things (junk ?) for $1 and that is just about the only things that sold well over here. My stuff is all new and flea markets are not for us.... what else are we going to do when there is no street fair......got poor weather, etc. Quite a number of vendors selling newer merchandise and people just are not there to buy. They want a deal, they want a bargain, they want something for a dollar. There were a couple food booths, one selling Mexican food and another smaller business selling hot dogs, etc. Had Kettle Korn vendor also.
People, when you clean up your house, bring your stuff here to the flea market and sell everything for a dollar and you'll make a little. There was a time when this was one of your better flea markets, but the people who frequent it now have little or no money. I guess $35 is decent to pay for a day here, but $20 is what it is actually worth. Fees went up $5.00 this year, but sales have decreased. Everybody says 'it's not like it used to be'
I'll be back here a couple more times this year and will probably do about the same. We had excellent weather today. Sunny, with temps in the high-50's during the morning and it began to cloud up around noon-time. There were a lot of no-shows, especially in the spaces to the left and to the right of us. Maybe 3 empty on one side; 5 empty on the other side. Felt a couple sprinkles of rain around 1:00 but nothing much. Most of the people began packing just after 2:00 and the place was 2/3 emptied out by 3:00 when we exited ourselves.
Saw many people crowded around the booths selling $1.00 things, but I would watch maybe 5-10 of them come to a booth, rummage through the things and they would all depart, leaving nothing but a mess.
There was a guy, perhaps 25-30 years old that came up to our booth. He was wearing a backpack and was 'towing' one of those rolling suitcases. He asked a couple questions about our things and then just stood there for about twenty minutes. About every 5 minutes or so, he would utter something meaningless and then just stand there, hand resting on the top handle of his suitcase and just stare off into the distance. Eerie....very eerie. Didn't really seem like he was homeless or something like that, but maybe he was waiting for me to adopt him. I don't know...I just don't know. Is it only me that gets these kind of people?
Location: 25555 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward, CA
The Chabot College Flea Market is held the third (3rd) Saturday of each month, rain or shine. Admission is FREE and parking is FREE (Parking Lot B only). Click here for more info and a vendor application. $35 for a regular sized space. Misleading info on website: Average Size Space: Standard = 17 x 34 Plus = 25½ x 51. I don't think so. More like 15 wide x 15 deep.
CHABOT COLLEGE PENNY MARKET. Weather reports look pretty decent; apparently no rain until latter part of day. We drove a 'long' way for this one, maybe 1 1/2 miles and arrived there around 6:40, just when it was becoming light and of course, the coldest time of day, which really wasn't too bad. Very mild, no breeze. Not really too many vendors setting up at that time and loads of empty spaces. I like to arrive at these flea markets early because these spaces are so tight and if there are occupants on both sides of me, I would have major problems unloading my stuff from the back of my van.
I was going to refer to this place as a 'dollar market' but many people had stuff selling for under a dollar. Many booths had things (junk ?) for $1 and that is just about the only things that sold well over here. My stuff is all new and flea markets are not for us.... what else are we going to do when there is no street fair......got poor weather, etc. Quite a number of vendors selling newer merchandise and people just are not there to buy. They want a deal, they want a bargain, they want something for a dollar. There were a couple food booths, one selling Mexican food and another smaller business selling hot dogs, etc. Had Kettle Korn vendor also.
People, when you clean up your house, bring your stuff here to the flea market and sell everything for a dollar and you'll make a little. There was a time when this was one of your better flea markets, but the people who frequent it now have little or no money. I guess $35 is decent to pay for a day here, but $20 is what it is actually worth. Fees went up $5.00 this year, but sales have decreased. Everybody says 'it's not like it used to be'
I'll be back here a couple more times this year and will probably do about the same. We had excellent weather today. Sunny, with temps in the high-50's during the morning and it began to cloud up around noon-time. There were a lot of no-shows, especially in the spaces to the left and to the right of us. Maybe 3 empty on one side; 5 empty on the other side. Felt a couple sprinkles of rain around 1:00 but nothing much. Most of the people began packing just after 2:00 and the place was 2/3 emptied out by 3:00 when we exited ourselves.
Saw many people crowded around the booths selling $1.00 things, but I would watch maybe 5-10 of them come to a booth, rummage through the things and they would all depart, leaving nothing but a mess.
There was a guy, perhaps 25-30 years old that came up to our booth. He was wearing a backpack and was 'towing' one of those rolling suitcases. He asked a couple questions about our things and then just stood there for about twenty minutes. About every 5 minutes or so, he would utter something meaningless and then just stand there, hand resting on the top handle of his suitcase and just stare off into the distance. Eerie....very eerie. Didn't really seem like he was homeless or something like that, but maybe he was waiting for me to adopt him. I don't know...I just don't know. Is it only me that gets these kind of people?