Flea market at the Downs

[Mike Horrell]

The Albuquerque Flea Market is mostly used goods or materials of dubious quality and origin,
discount DVDs as well as some decent produce. I'm just not sure that you'd have the right
sort of foot traffic there.

You might be better off trying the Corrales and Los Ranchos Growers' Markets as they bring out a
smaller, but more upscale crowd.

[berncohomes]

Are you sure Mike? I was saw designer sunglasses there for $15 pair and I was assured by the honest sounding merchant that they were in fact authentic.

[Mike Horrell]

Originally Posted by berncohomes

Are you sure Mike? I was saw designer sunglasses there for $15 pair and I was assured by the honest sounding merchant that they were in fact authentic.

Same guy that had the overstock Pierre Cardin handbags for $30? He must be honest,
he's been there for years...

[berncohomes]

That's the one! Last week he had Louis Vuitton, direct from Paris, all authentic and guaranteed. They were last seasons design though and he was letting them go for $50 because he had to get rid of them for his new shipment coming in. I don't know how he manages it, nothing short of a miracle if you ask me.

[yukon]

OP, have you tried selling on-line, at a site like etsy.com?

[marccalderwood]

Hi, we're very new, last year being our first season. But we run the Idalia Road Marketplace, a mixed, open-air market in Rio Rancho. The truth of the matter about any market is as follows:

1. Find out how much marketing and what types of marketing their doing. We spent every penny we made in marketing, doing:
* Albuquerque Journal Westside - monthly
* Rio Rancho Observer every week
* Corrales Comment monthly insert
* Placitas Signpost monthly
* My 50 TV - one month
* Cable One in Rio Rancho - two months
* 15,000 door hangers (personally delivered by yours truly)
* Ten's of thousands of flyers at all local, major events
* Notices in all electronic and magazine calenders (ABQ Mag, Alibi, IQ, etc, etc)
* We attended many chamber functions and every place we could gurrella market.

After all this we still had weekends where crowds were low. So don't be too hard on these new markets. Hopefully, they like us, are doing everything they can do to generate traffic.

The Tesuque Market has had it's own trials and tribulations with managment chasing off many of the original vendors. I met numerous vendors who will never attend that market again, no matter how many tourists attend.

Best advice.
* Look for something close. You don't want to be lugging stuff all over the world.
* Look for something that's kept clean and run as professional as you operate.
* Work with people who are reasonable. (Some markets are not)
* Expect to be there on days when the traffic is slow. You'll discover that people will return to buy
something they saw the week prior.
* For whatever reason, Sundays are slower but people spend more money???? Go figure. Maybe
God's given them permission to live their lives to the fullest.
* Last, vending is a business, and if you don't go into it with that understanding you will never
succeed. I've seen vendors come out, no matter what the weather, or how their feeliing and
have real success (we had numerous vendors have $1000 weekends and more last year). But they
come understanding that like any business they're not going to make it in a day. The mall doesn't
close, not one store, because it's slow. When people need something they know that the hours and
the stores in the mall are set in stone. That's business.

Oh, very last. If you want some information on our market you can find us at Idalia Road Marketplace, or call us at 505-553-5591.
Thanks, and whatever you do have a prosperous 2011.
Marc