What are the advantages and disadvantages of flea markets?

Answer 1

Are you asking what are the advantages of owning a flea market or are you asking about the advantages of owning your own flea market business (selling at flea markets)? There are numerous advantages to selling at flea markets when compared to running a normal brick and mortar type business (such as a Pizza shop or cafe, a card shop, etc. located in a strip mall). The brick and mortar business requires an investment of thousands of dollars before you make your first dollar. Once you find a spot in a good location, you must lease the space (could be $2,500/mo and more), you must install the hardware (shelves, cabinets, countertops, desks, etc.) and you must stock the business with the merchandise (which requires thousands of dollars of merchandise to fill the shelves. Nobody likes to buy in a store where the shelves are almost empty). And unless you intend to be there every hour your business is open, you will need to hire employees and pay taxes and workman's comp, and things get complicated, so you'll need a good bookkeeper, too. Plus, if you sell food items, you'll need a health deptartment inspection and you may need other inspections as well, such as a fire department inspection, further delaying your opening. You'll need a business license and a tax permit before you open the front door to the public. And you'll need to advertise. The advertising budget for a small business can be $1,000 a month and more. But if you don't advertise, people won't know where you are. Compare that to a flea market business, which can be started with only $50 in merchandise. It can be operated on a card table. Space rent varies. It can be as little as $5 per day to as much as $50 per day per space, but most average between $12-$20 per day. (I only pay $200 a month and I rent two spaces each day, every weekend.) It is a very simple business. Rent a space, set up your tables, place your items on the table and talk to whoever stops by to see what you have for sale. You stay as long as you want. If you feel like leaving at noon, you can. You don't have a sign on the door saying you're open until 9 pm. Most vendors are there from 7 am until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, only on Saturday and Sunday unless the market is open more days of the week. Most are open only on Saturday and Sunday. You really don't need a business permit but you will need a tax permit, which is easy to get and doesn't cost much. (See your local State Dept. of Revenue for information.) Will you need to hire employees? Not really. You are only there a few hours each day, two days per week. Not having employees eliminates a lot of potential headaches. Even though your business may be new, you can still take advantage of the many years the flea market has been open. You won't need to advertise. Everyone in town knows it is there and they come each weekend because they can never tell what they will find one weekend to the next. They'll find such a variety of merchandise they would never find in a Walmart Supercenter, both new and used items, and buyers have the opportunity to actually speak to the owner of the items . Try doing that at Wal Mart. I am not stretching the truth when I say you could have 10,000 buyers walk by your space each day in some of the larger flea markets, and if only 10% of those people buy something you could be making a very decent income. (Small businesses located in strip malls wish they could have that many potential customers come through the door but never will!) These are just a few of the advantages of owning and operating your own flea market business and there are many more. Many professional flea market vendors make thousands of dollars each and every month just working weekends. I know because I am one of them. Selling at flea markets is an easy business to start, does not require a lot of up-front money to get started, can be operated on weekends, allowing you to continue working at your job five days per week (it's good to have the health benefits), and will allow you to supplement your current income or replace it altogether.

Answer 2

advantage

very popular $ maker

disadvantage

are very common

Answer 3

advantages

-it is easy to establish

disadvantage

-competition is high