A Short Weekend

This weekend I have decided to close my Fleamasters NW30 booth for the summer. I have enjoyed the new friends I have made. But this weekend has been very hard for me.

My house is a mess, my booth is over flowing stocked with more than 4,000 books, and sales are way down.

Tourist season is ending.

I have learned may thing about flea marketing. And I have made many new friends,

This week I have put Green label paperback at $1 each.

And I will be doing other mark downs during the week. Next week end I hope to close on Sunday at 4pm and begin the dismantling then.

I will be replacing the ink cartridge as I have just run out as I was new printing labels.

Whatnot Good Morning!

When the sun rises, I rise.
While the coffee brews, I watch the sky,
Alas the coffee wakes me up.

As the sun rises.

My Flea Market Booth History Part 4.

I now have a great spot, but with all the books I was bringing in I soon found I needed more shelving.

First I found two short bookshelves one 3 shelf one 2 at a church thrift store; I had intended to turn into a front display when another flea marketer mentioned a glass display case. I quickly obtained this item even with the orange carpeting in the bottom and displayed all the wine stoppers and pearls I have for sale. This has helped a little with the shoplifting.

Not one to waste anything, the two short units are now stacked in the back between two taller bookshelves I also picked up from a fellow vendor. Now for the center, a table is great for displaying glassware and other items, but I wanted to showcase more books. This is where the fun began. My husband listened to me as I sketched and planned to build a large bookshelf. The only problem, time! I needed more time to clean the house and keep up with my on line orders!

After some planning I decided to go the block and board method. Easy to install and load into my car, yes I have a car and not a truck.

I measured the space and decided 10 feet was the longest I should go in my 15 x 12’ booth. But how high? I wanted this to be usable from both sides. The concrete blocks I chose are nothing fancy they measure 8x16x4” for the 10 foot span I decided on three for each level. For shelving I elected to use 1x8x10 pine boards, as they would fit in the car!

The first level does not start with the board on the bottom I started with 3 concrete block placed evenly under the first board then I laid the second board along side bringing both to the edges of the block. (Yes I have a gap in the center, but a 1x10x10 just would not fit into the car.) I carefully started the next layer by lining up the second block with the one below. Not bad but new concrete blocks do shed small (or not so small) particles. Placing the second set of boards the same as the ones below was easier. I repeated this process 7 times before I ran out of boards I finished with two blocks on the top laying on their sides. Loading the books was easier as I had sorted the books alphabetically by author before bringing them to the flea market.

Did I worry about stability, yes! For maximum stability I placed the blocks them directly onto the pavement, ensuring a firm base. I also keep the bookcase under 6 feet. The books also give it some stability. How did I cope with the depth of the bookcase as I was only placing paperback? I did not want paperbacks being shoved back. I utilized the space behind the paperbacks. A great place to store additional copies of the new books, I have for sale. Placing hardback all on the shelves takes to much room. Duplicate copies are stored behind the paperbacks.

Two days later I returned to pick up the final two boards, but decided I only needed one for the top.  This single board gives me additional display space and allows my plastic tarp to cover the books when the flea market is closed. Yes everything gets covered at night, or packed in the car to go home.

After my building project I wish I had used the block method for all of the shelving as it has a nice industrial feel to it.

The space under the bookshelf is perfect for storing a few boxes of paperbacks ready to be shelved. These few boxes have plastic applied to the bottom for moisture prevention.

My Flea Market Booth History Part 3.

Upon my 4^th and final move I was beginning to be known as the traveling bookstore….

Just as I was calculating lumber and supplies a booth down the way opened. I found walls and a roll down tarp to make closing up at night easier. Two padlocks help to secure things nicely. Read about the move!

Opening up the bookshelves and using pegboard on the back solves the floor size issue.

The metal shelving holds may book. But I have to be careful how tall the books are. The center tables have my jewelry and whatnot, the rear wall host children's books and toys; and the long side table has copies of new books I have for sale! Across from me they sell plants and planters. I am near one of the entrances to the building. Over all a much better location.

The desk up front seemed to be working well for displays.

Happy days, for awhile.

Books N Whatnot Clearance Sale!

It’s March and the season is almost over. I just realize I have 5600 paperbacks for sale. 

It's Time for a sale! All flea market green priced tag paperback books will be half price!

Hard covers I am still debating about putting on sale.

Hurry for best selection.

My Flea Market Booth History Part 2.

After much frantic repositioning, moving and relocating, I had stocked this second booth with more books. I spotted a desk for sale and quickly relocated it to the back of the booth. No Internet available, but I could work on grading books. After a long morning with no one coming to visit I quickly ordered a sign. It helped a little but not enough. No one could see my booth through all the cars. I did have room to bring in more books. 

Expanded inventory to include the cutest little baby hats.

I did learn that at Fleamasters Flea market in Fort Myers, when you rent by the week or month you could securely leave items there! This booth was beautiful with a roll down door and chain link gate. Ah but no customers, no traffic.

Now, I moved to spot # 3, obtained metal shelving from a local shelving store enhanced my new location. These are used shelving. With all the business folding in Fort Myers an easy find. Bonus #2 they delivered! But I had to leave them back-to-back, as two did not have backs.

This booth with the bookshelves set up back to back, could only handle one table a negative. It was smaller than booth #2. No back or sidewalls. More traffic. Alas set up was difficult. I was measuring to add walls when….

My Flea Market Booth History Part One.

The wonders of vegetable boxes!

Most articles talk about furnishing your home or apartment from flea market finds. I found myself needing to furnish my flea market booth to handle all of the wonderful books I intended to sell. The first week I had two Craigslist particleboard bookshelves and two tables provided, with books in vegetable boxes courtesy of Costco! I have always been a fan of recycling. These boxes are not only free but the hold two rows of paperbacks beautifully.

How to get people to look into my booth was the problem, the sun was very bright and shinning it their eyes as they passed my booths. The majority of the booths had been closed in with lattice or tarps, but mine was open to the sun. After obtaining my sunburn for the weekend I moved to another building a spot twice as big as my previous spot. 

More to come.....