What to do in a no-flea market zone?

[Annette and Josh]

I am terribly guilty of being an impulse buyer. Sometimes I don't know what I want until I see it. This has led to some great finds and a few wonderful 'steals'. But this type of shopping lends itself best to brick and mortar second hand stores, junk shops and antique malls. It is hard to find what you are looking for online when you don't know what it is you are looking for. At the moment, however, I do know what I want and a flea market would be a great avenue for finding it.

I have developed an interest in rehabbing and/or repurposing - not restoring - otherwise unusable furniture. We currently have a pressing need for some nice media storage and nothing I have found suits my taste or needs. I have decided that I'll have to make the storage unit myself, but would love to salvage some old hardware and table legs to finish it off.

The area where I live has some very nice antique and second hand shops, but the venue is shrinking. One of my favorite antique malls closed up about three years ago. Another closed down last fall. There used to be a row of "junk" shops in the old section of town, but a developer bought the building and basically kicked everyone out. Now the building stands mostly vacant, the kitschy signs over each store front all that remain of some really great places to find unique and interesting items.

There is one auction house locally that does everything, including antiques and estate sales.

But there are no flea markets, none, nada, zilch. This is bothering me as what I am currently looking for is basically cast off furniture.

I suppose about the only other option - and one that will take some tedious searching - is to hit the garage and yard sales. Maybe I'll find something suitable. One thing I do know, I'll probably find some things I didn't know I wanted.

[C. Dianne Zweig Editor's Desk]

I'd love to see this discussion also posted in the Flea Market Group?

Dianne

[Colleen Smith]

I know this sounds ambitious, but I also lived where there wasn't a flea market for miles and miles. So we hit up the local little grocery store and they agreed to host one in the parking lot. It was a huge success and they continued to host it (only 3-4 times a year) until the owners sold the place and retired. I made a small killing off homemade sticky buns...mmm mm...the same buns the owners then bought from me for their store. All around a win!
Do you have a more or less local Craigslist? I do a lot of shopping from that. It involves more running around, but it's been more than worth it for me.