Flea market shopping
Flea market shopping
Whatever the motive, acquiring goods to bring back trip memories can be part of the purpose and pleasure.
Diane and Darryl Mason are scouring stalls in a Paris flea market, seeking souvenirs for their collection from countries they have visited. Betty Condon is haggling over the price she must pay in Costa Rica to buy Christmas gifts for her family back home.
Some inveterate shoppers travel abroad to buy local handicrafts and merchandise at cut-rate prices. Others treasure the unique gifts they can find. Whatever the motive, acquiring goods to bring back trip memories can be part of the purpose and pleasure.
Paris is home to the largest flea market in the world.
Paris is one of many places where street markets offer buyers bargains, variety, and the chance to meet and mingle with locals. Les Puces (the fleas) is said to be the largest in the world. It stretches over 17 acres and attracts as many as 180,000 people on weekends.
Vendors offer merchandise ranging from beads to beds, paintings to plumbing fixtures, and just about anything else one could want.
The Norwich Market traces its roots back more than 900 years and is the largest in Britain. Among merchants’ offerings are flowers and fabrics, clothing, and fruits and vegetables, which are displayed in colorful pyramids.
From 1320 to 1754, a horse market was held at the Place du Grand Sablon in Brussels, Belgium. Today, the neighborhood is crammed with antique stores, booths, and boutiques selling wares, from chocolates to Chinese porcelain and silverware to still-life paintings.
Beauty may be found in everyday household items
Whether you’re shopping for souvenirs to display on your shelves back home or gifts for others, mementos that serve as reminders of where they came from can include some surprises. For example, beauty may be found in commonplace household items.
Tiny dolls and colorful, elaborate puppets are among children’s toys in India’s bazaars that can brighten up a bookcase. Cowbells of varying sizes serve as reminders of a trip to Switzerland. Elaborate clay vases fashioned in Greece and colorful hand-made umbrellas from Thailand add a touch of art to any location.
The objective of many shoppers is to focus on keepsakes that bring back mind pictures and memories of places they visited. Those may be near where they live or halfway around the globe.
Shopping for Native American culture and customs
Visitors to Native American sites have a wide choice of goods that evoke that aspect of our country’s history and culture. The Navajos are known for their exquisite silver work, Hopis for the contemporary look of silver designs and members of the Zuni tribe for setting stones on sterling silver objects. The Santo Domingo Indians of New Mexico produce exquisite beadwork, and Cherokee women have been master weavers since the 1800s.
Silver pieces are among the best buys available in Mexico, along with hand-made pottery and huipils and decorative embroidered blouses that hint at the region where they were made. Other products identified with specific locations include Merida’s colorful blankets, Taxco-made silver and copper jewelry, and deep black pottery, which is endemic to Oaxaca.
Given Canada’s colder climate, it’s not surprising that Montreal is known as the fur capital of North America. Animal hair and pelts have been essential in that country’s history since 1670. That’s when King Charles II of England and Scotland sent traders into the Canadian Territory. Today, many natural furs are raised on farms rather than sought in the wild. Among local favorites are red fox, dark mink, beaver, and bobcat.
High-end goods at low-end prices
While Europe’s Scandinavian region shares Canada’s cold clime, its best buy list is focused primarily on manufactured products. Some are available at lower prices than people in the United States might pay.
In Denmark, fine tableware, serving accessories, and porcelain often cost about one-half the price that would be charged at many shops in the U.S. Crystal and fine china are among good buys in Finland.
If low prices aren’t their primary goal, some serious shoppers enjoy making high-end purchases at places that are identified with specific items. As Europe’s diamond-cutting capital, Amsterdam has many factories where those gemstones are shaped and polished.
Monarchs and heads of state for centuries have displayed magnificent porcelain objects created in Berlin by Koenigliche Porzellan Manufaktur. It has been turning out handmade ceramic treasures since 1763 and continues to do so.
Clothing and shoes of high quality are available in Sweden at reasonable prices. It's possible to find "high-end" jeans at a cost below what you might pay at home.
Bargaining for the best deals for your buck
We end with suggestions for the hopefully enjoyable exercise that is a favorite pastime at many markets, shops, and other shopping venues worldwide. Bargaining over the price of a purchase can be a fun-filled exercise that hopefully results in paying as little as possible for something you would like to buy for yourself or as a gift.
First, know the value of what you hope to purchase by checking at home before you leave or with other vendors where you are.
When the salesperson quotes a price, reply that it’s much too high.
Make a counteroffer at least 50 percent below the maximum you’d be willing to pay.
If the bargaining seems stymied, say, “I’ll try to come back later,” and begin to leave. That often prompts sellers to give you their very best offer – which has been the goal of the procedure from the start.
I have included this from Laura L. apparently a Flea Market expert--
The name of the large flea market in Brussels is Le Grand SABLON, not "Le Grand Salon." It's important to understanding Brussels' history - the Grand Sablon is a part of town that leads down by slow degrees to what was, in Roman times, a place that hosted athletic contests, chariot races, etc. "Sablon" is from the French for "sable," which means sand, so it is appropriate that a part of town that leads down to a former contest area covered by sand would be called Le Grand SABLON."
Also, please don't forget the flea market in Madrid, which ALSO markets itself as "the world's largest flea market," which, if you take away the many adjacent buildings to Les Grands Puces and just include the stuff within the old Grands Puces, it actually is, as none of the surrounding areas of the flea market in Madrid are also antique markets.
Finally, a far better "real" flea market in Paris is Puces des Vanves, which is where (the dealers told me) people from Grands Puces come to buy their merchandise. I have been to both many times and if it's raining or cold, Sainte Ouen (Les Grands Puces) is much more comfy, but if it's sunny, you definitely want to be at Vanves!