It is no secret that I do enjoy going to estate sales in the St. Louis area almost every weekend. I utilize websites such as estatesales.net and http://gsalr.com/garage-sales-st-louis-mo.html , so I can determine my route, and what are the best sales that meet my criteria. For example, most estate sale companies in this area will post pics of the merchandise at the sale on estatesales.net . Using that resource will save me time and money.
Aside from the estate sale circuit, we also enjoy going to flea markets. It is my opinion and observation that the Pevely and Barnhart flea markets have waxed and waned, but altogether, they seem to have lost their spunk, and with that spunk went quality vendors.
All is not lost, however. The flea market that is located in the heart of Wentzville, MO (near the interchange of I-70 / I-40), is alive and well! They have over 400 vendors, selling everything from electronics, fruit / vegetables, clothing, household items, car parts, and virtually anything that can be carted to a flea market.
The drive takes me 40 minutes from my home. (Yes, on a Sunday morning!), I get up at 5:00 AM, so I can be on the road by 5:45 AM. The vendors at this particular market can start selling at 6:30 AM, although many of them are still setting up their booths at this time. If you pull into the large parking lot somewhere around 6:30 AM, you will find quite a few people have already arrived, but ample parking is still available If you choose to arrive at 7:00 AM or later, you will have to park off the grounds, and walk a several blocks to the market. This is not usually a problem, but is a consideration if you want to make several trips back to your vehicle with purchases, or if you have your arms full when walking back to your car after a busy morning.
Immediately after my arrival (usually at 6:25 AM!), I try to make a faster-than-usual la around the entire flea market. This market is huge, and occupies several levels of the park that it occupies. You have to have a plan, or you will be doubling back over parts of it that you never intended, or you will miss booths, altogether.
At any rate, I do an initial quick pass, just to see if any vendors have set out an item that has caught my attention that might not be there on my second pass. This has happened to me before. One vendor had a full-size harpsichord that was made from a kit. Even though the outside finish of this harpsichord was lacking in the decorative department, I played the instrument, and it proved to be in worthy condition. Without being assembled, these kits can cost a few thousand dollars. This instrument was already assembled, and was $100 ! The sad part of the entire deal was that if I was a haggler (and I am not a talented haggler!) , I could have probably talked this poor fell down on the price!
Let's talk about the 'Let It Ride' principle. Have you ever going to the store, and seen an item you want, but really didn't want to spend the money at that time on it? You decide: "I will finish my shopping, and think about it for a few minutes. If I still want it later, I will go back and get it before I check out. That theory works well in stores. They usually have more than one of the item you are wanting, and the only thing wasted is a few steps, and a bit of your time. When we are looking at ONE item at a flea market (or estate sale, etc), you have now effectively participated in a gamble. How so? You are taking a chance on that one-of-a-kind item still being at that booth when you return.
I had the opportunity to experience both sides of the "Let It Ride' principle this past Sunday at the flea market. When I was assembling my 6' raised beds for my tiny garden, being arthritic made whatever the asking price of a rechargeable power screwdriver look very cheap. I was at Home Depot when I bought these raised beds, and I was looking for this screwdriver while I was there. They had nothing under $100, and I didn't want to add $100 to the rising cost of these beds. I know that WalMart sells a smaller, but powerful version of this rechargeable screwdriver for less than $20, but I didn't want to make one more stop that day before I went home. For this project, in the end, I went home and drilled the pilot holes with an electric drill, and drilled the long screws in by hand. OUCH!
At any rate, at this flea market, during the 'first pass', I noted the very screwdriver that I was looking for, still in it's original packaging. Asking price $7.50. What a deal! Even though my immediate needs for this screwdriver was over, I know there will be future projects that I could use such a tool. Several years ago, I built a wall, complete with studs, a door, etc - all with one of these less expensive rechargeable screw drivers. Actually, I had 2 of them, and 1 was charging at any given time, so I wouldn't have any down time. The moral of this small screwdriver saga is this: On my second round of the flea market, when I was going back to get the things that I passed on during the first lap, this screw driver was *gone*. Somebody else knew the 'Let It Ride' principle, and they also knew there was a chance at losing a bargain.
However.....I also got this hanging tie dyed bead curtain, to put on the wall of my groovy 1960's music room (to hang in the proximity of my Hammond organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, and lava lamp!):
While I do utilize the hell out of the 'Let It Ride' principle, I know when to say when, and when not to gamble. If I want the item bad enough, there IS no gamble. I will buy it out-right. I bought the following items at the same booth, and paid $15 for *both*. At local Retro stores,, these same items would have a combined price tag of $195!
Needless to say, I did spend $10 on 'That 70's terrarium', and spent $70 for the other succulents and the rocks, sand and soil inside. I erroneously figured that putting together this desert terrarium would take me about 10 - 15 minutes. I spend THREE AND A HALF HOURS just getting the 3 taller cacti in the middle to stand upright! I had those 3 cacti previously. They were in this house, in a window, when we moved in. Prior to my assuming responsibility for these 3 cacti, I could kill a cactus in a heart beat. I have grown plants that most people can't, and I can start them from seed, but prior to this attempt, I would kill a cactus faster than I care to admit to the average stranger. The same thing can be said for fish. I can breed Siamese Fighting Fish (Bettas), and if you will read up on that procedure, it is no small joke. They are tough to breed, and have very specific requirements, or your breeding attempt will fail miserably. HOWEVER....I will kill a guppy or goldfish in less than a week! What gives?
Let us continue.....I did purchase the crap to plant this desert terrarium at Home Depot. As I previously stated, I already had the 3 center cacti, but as another flea market purchase, I bought several (6) smaller, interesting succulents and cacti from an elderly lady that was selling them as her specialty.
Now that I think about it, I got the Hammond organ model E-100 and Leslie 122 speaker, the rain lamp, the 1970's bamboo living room set, and the historic Wassily chairs *all* at flea markets or estate sales. In other words, everything in our great room was purchased at these types of sales. I will have to admit that our actual living room does have some store bought furniture, and I am certainly not opposed to that, the remaining decor in that room is also estate sale / flea market finds.
This is the rain lamp that I paid $15 for at the Wentzville Flea Market last season. Local antique stores and sellers on eBay regularly sell these lamps for $150 - 250:
I did get the following items at the same market this past Sunday, but they are hardly picture worthy: 1 - hand saw (for trimming bush honey suckle in my back yard!), 1 - large pair of hedge shears - for trimming the same over grown honey suckle!, and 1 - spray nozzle that was originally intended to allow the user to put an amount of soap in the attached container, dilute it with the incoming jet of water, and spray it over your car, house, etc. My intent is to use this nozzle to dilute Miracle Grow for my outside plants this summer. The total price for the saw, huge shears and spray nozzle (All nw, and in their original packaging): $21.
Other shopping trips will have their own stories, but this one ends in the Pièce de résistance:
I cannot hide the fact that my recent 60 lb. weight loss proves that I am still the biggest fan (but maybe not literally!) of Easter Sugar Peeps, and Cadbury eggs. I walked by a small booth run by a couple friendly ladies, and I saw this item:
Still in the box! I had to have it! I joked with them, "That is just what I need! A machine that pumps these things out as fast as I can inhale them!" Even though I did gently open the box when I got it home, only because curiosity was killing me, my intent is to leave this box on the shelf, as-is. Just as an item of interest, and a nod to yet another one of my obsessions: Sugar Peeps! My purchase price for this bit of memorabilia: $1. SOLD!
(Did I mention that I have several boxes of real Sugar Peeps hidden away in a piano bench less than 6' away from this little item of interest? I know that if there is one place to hide ANYTHING small enough to fit, it is in a Hammond or piano bench! Mark will *never* come close to those! he he he)
- Michael
Aside from the estate sale circuit, we also enjoy going to flea markets. It is my opinion and observation that the Pevely and Barnhart flea markets have waxed and waned, but altogether, they seem to have lost their spunk, and with that spunk went quality vendors.
All is not lost, however. The flea market that is located in the heart of Wentzville, MO (near the interchange of I-70 / I-40), is alive and well! They have over 400 vendors, selling everything from electronics, fruit / vegetables, clothing, household items, car parts, and virtually anything that can be carted to a flea market.
The drive takes me 40 minutes from my home. (Yes, on a Sunday morning!), I get up at 5:00 AM, so I can be on the road by 5:45 AM. The vendors at this particular market can start selling at 6:30 AM, although many of them are still setting up their booths at this time. If you pull into the large parking lot somewhere around 6:30 AM, you will find quite a few people have already arrived, but ample parking is still available If you choose to arrive at 7:00 AM or later, you will have to park off the grounds, and walk a several blocks to the market. This is not usually a problem, but is a consideration if you want to make several trips back to your vehicle with purchases, or if you have your arms full when walking back to your car after a busy morning.
Immediately after my arrival (usually at 6:25 AM!), I try to make a faster-than-usual la around the entire flea market. This market is huge, and occupies several levels of the park that it occupies. You have to have a plan, or you will be doubling back over parts of it that you never intended, or you will miss booths, altogether.
At any rate, I do an initial quick pass, just to see if any vendors have set out an item that has caught my attention that might not be there on my second pass. This has happened to me before. One vendor had a full-size harpsichord that was made from a kit. Even though the outside finish of this harpsichord was lacking in the decorative department, I played the instrument, and it proved to be in worthy condition. Without being assembled, these kits can cost a few thousand dollars. This instrument was already assembled, and was $100 ! The sad part of the entire deal was that if I was a haggler (and I am not a talented haggler!) , I could have probably talked this poor fell down on the price!
Let's talk about the 'Let It Ride' principle. Have you ever going to the store, and seen an item you want, but really didn't want to spend the money at that time on it? You decide: "I will finish my shopping, and think about it for a few minutes. If I still want it later, I will go back and get it before I check out. That theory works well in stores. They usually have more than one of the item you are wanting, and the only thing wasted is a few steps, and a bit of your time. When we are looking at ONE item at a flea market (or estate sale, etc), you have now effectively participated in a gamble. How so? You are taking a chance on that one-of-a-kind item still being at that booth when you return.
I had the opportunity to experience both sides of the "Let It Ride' principle this past Sunday at the flea market. When I was assembling my 6' raised beds for my tiny garden, being arthritic made whatever the asking price of a rechargeable power screwdriver look very cheap. I was at Home Depot when I bought these raised beds, and I was looking for this screwdriver while I was there. They had nothing under $100, and I didn't want to add $100 to the rising cost of these beds. I know that WalMart sells a smaller, but powerful version of this rechargeable screwdriver for less than $20, but I didn't want to make one more stop that day before I went home. For this project, in the end, I went home and drilled the pilot holes with an electric drill, and drilled the long screws in by hand. OUCH!
At any rate, at this flea market, during the 'first pass', I noted the very screwdriver that I was looking for, still in it's original packaging. Asking price $7.50. What a deal! Even though my immediate needs for this screwdriver was over, I know there will be future projects that I could use such a tool. Several years ago, I built a wall, complete with studs, a door, etc - all with one of these less expensive rechargeable screw drivers. Actually, I had 2 of them, and 1 was charging at any given time, so I wouldn't have any down time. The moral of this small screwdriver saga is this: On my second round of the flea market, when I was going back to get the things that I passed on during the first lap, this screw driver was *gone*. Somebody else knew the 'Let It Ride' principle, and they also knew there was a chance at losing a bargain.
However.....I also got this hanging tie dyed bead curtain, to put on the wall of my groovy 1960's music room (to hang in the proximity of my Hammond organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, and lava lamp!):
It was fortunate for me that the young man that I spoke to the young man that was running the booth during my 'first pass', and I told him that I was going to shop the rest of the market, and that I would return to pick up this curtain. Do you know how many people tell vendors the same schpeal, and never return? I am a rare bird in that if I tell a vendor that I will definitely come back and get it, I will most certainly do that. If I tell them that I will 'walk around and think about it', then it is a toss-up, and no contract is implied. When I returned to get this curtain, he put it in the back of his booth, out of site from other shoppers. The price I paid: $10.
Now, be honest with me! Wouldn't that tie-dye, bead curtain look groovy, baby, behind my Wurlitzer electric piano from 1966, with my Lava lamp on top? :)
While I do utilize the hell out of the 'Let It Ride' principle, I know when to say when, and when not to gamble. If I want the item bad enough, there IS no gamble. I will buy it out-right. I bought the following items at the same booth, and paid $15 for *both*. At local Retro stores,, these same items would have a combined price tag of $195!
Needless to say, I did spend $10 on 'That 70's terrarium', and spent $70 for the other succulents and the rocks, sand and soil inside. I erroneously figured that putting together this desert terrarium would take me about 10 - 15 minutes. I spend THREE AND A HALF HOURS just getting the 3 taller cacti in the middle to stand upright! I had those 3 cacti previously. They were in this house, in a window, when we moved in. Prior to my assuming responsibility for these 3 cacti, I could kill a cactus in a heart beat. I have grown plants that most people can't, and I can start them from seed, but prior to this attempt, I would kill a cactus faster than I care to admit to the average stranger. The same thing can be said for fish. I can breed Siamese Fighting Fish (Bettas), and if you will read up on that procedure, it is no small joke. They are tough to breed, and have very specific requirements, or your breeding attempt will fail miserably. HOWEVER....I will kill a guppy or goldfish in less than a week! What gives?
Let us continue.....I did purchase the crap to plant this desert terrarium at Home Depot. As I previously stated, I already had the 3 center cacti, but as another flea market purchase, I bought several (6) smaller, interesting succulents and cacti from an elderly lady that was selling them as her specialty.
Now that I think about it, I got the Hammond organ model E-100 and Leslie 122 speaker, the rain lamp, the 1970's bamboo living room set, and the historic Wassily chairs *all* at flea markets or estate sales. In other words, everything in our great room was purchased at these types of sales. I will have to admit that our actual living room does have some store bought furniture, and I am certainly not opposed to that, the remaining decor in that room is also estate sale / flea market finds.
This is the rain lamp that I paid $15 for at the Wentzville Flea Market last season. Local antique stores and sellers on eBay regularly sell these lamps for $150 - 250:
I did get the following items at the same market this past Sunday, but they are hardly picture worthy: 1 - hand saw (for trimming bush honey suckle in my back yard!), 1 - large pair of hedge shears - for trimming the same over grown honey suckle!, and 1 - spray nozzle that was originally intended to allow the user to put an amount of soap in the attached container, dilute it with the incoming jet of water, and spray it over your car, house, etc. My intent is to use this nozzle to dilute Miracle Grow for my outside plants this summer. The total price for the saw, huge shears and spray nozzle (All nw, and in their original packaging): $21.
Other shopping trips will have their own stories, but this one ends in the Pièce de résistance:
I cannot hide the fact that my recent 60 lb. weight loss proves that I am still the biggest fan (but maybe not literally!) of Easter Sugar Peeps, and Cadbury eggs. I walked by a small booth run by a couple friendly ladies, and I saw this item:
Still in the box! I had to have it! I joked with them, "That is just what I need! A machine that pumps these things out as fast as I can inhale them!" Even though I did gently open the box when I got it home, only because curiosity was killing me, my intent is to leave this box on the shelf, as-is. Just as an item of interest, and a nod to yet another one of my obsessions: Sugar Peeps! My purchase price for this bit of memorabilia: $1. SOLD!
(Did I mention that I have several boxes of real Sugar Peeps hidden away in a piano bench less than 6' away from this little item of interest? I know that if there is one place to hide ANYTHING small enough to fit, it is in a Hammond or piano bench! Mark will *never* come close to those! he he he)
- Michael
Are you willing to sale your vintage rain oil lamp? D.Greer greerdylia@gmail.com thanks for your time
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