Interview with the Artist...

Interviewer:
What gave you the idea for the Million Dollar Flea Market?

Elaine, Elaine:
I supported myself, my children, and my work as an artist by selling at the Marin County Flea Market for 10 years.

One winter, due to floods and a depressed economy, I sold my piano and book collection to survive. By summer, the attitude of the dealers in the flea market was one of total despair. Many felt that it was the end of the flea market phenomena.

I didn't want the markets to end. Being a flea market dealer meant independence. I was sole proprietor of a small business. I sold furniture. Paid taxes. I wasn't on welfare. Flea marketing allowed me the time to be with my children and make art. I also bought everything we needed there. Clothing, food, furniture, supplies.

By May, however, the bottom dropped out. I drove four hundred miles to sell and returned home with $30 and a full van. Depressed, I unloaded the contents of the van onto the floor of my studio and sat on the floor, alone and unsure of my future.

It was at this low point that I suddenly had the urge to clean my van. I drove to the nearest car wash and cleaned it inside and out. During the next week, I took what little money remained in my savings account and bought new merchandise. The following weekend, I dressed in bright colors and returned to the flea market to sell. By the end of the day, I was almost sold out . From that point, things changed. I'm still not clear on what happened.

However, there was still the stuff I couldn't sell lying on the studio floor including items that were broken. I arranged them into collages. It was fun. From then on, each weekend, when I sold, I would scour the markets looking for more unusual broken objects. One day while arranging the objects into a collage, I realized I had the nucleus for a new work of art. That's how the Million Dollar Flea Market was born. It created itself.

Interviewer:
How did you become a Flea Market dealer?

Elaine, Elaine:
Out of necessity. I was broke and alone in California with my children. I wasn't able to support myself as an artist. My college background didn't help. I needed a job and an income fast!

Fortunately, I met a sharp woman real estate agent who took me to the flea market. She suggested that I become a flea market dealer. It looked like fun. So, I took everything I owned and sold it in the Market.

By the end of the month, I had sold everything. Instantaneous success. Every dealer was buying from me. It wasn't until later that I learned I had sold everything I owned for very little. Finally, the day came when I had to go out and buy things to sell. I discovered that I didn't know anything about the flea market business. So, I took up Amway.

Interviewer:
How long were you with Amway?

Elaine, Elaine:
Four months. I was a big disappointment to my upline (sponsors). I never did bring in any business.

Interviewer:
What did you do then?

Elaine, Elaine:
It was back to the market. I couldn't type. I was almost broke.

At this point, three people walked into my life who taught me about flea markets and collectibles.

The first was Ted, a veteran flea market dealer. The second was Tom. He owned a local pawn shop. The third was Babette. She introduced me to the Marin County Flea Market in Sausalito, CA.

Every Sunday, Ted would come to the market, set up his merchandise, sit-down and play the guitar. It was three years before I learned that he was a graduate of Dartmouth, owned lots of real estate, and was a member of a very prominent family. (You can never be sure who you are are talking with at a flea market. The dealer could be a lawyer, doctor, or accountant). I learned the art of pricing and selling merchandise from Ted.

I met Tom the first time I sold. He was out looking for bargains. Tom was Greek. He had a long beard and missing teeth. I was selling everything I owned at the flea market. I was also crying as I watched the beautiful life I led disappear-item by item.

Tom spotted me. He walked over. Stared in my face. I was scared. I thought he was a bum.

"Why are you crying", he asked.

"I'm alone. I have a house and three children to support. I don't know what to do to make a living."

"Don't cry. Come and see me. I will help you." He handed me his business card. It was a long time before I had the courage to accept his help. It later turned out that he had a PHD and his woman friend went to Brown University.

I met Babette when I sold her a rare piece of china way below its value.

"Don't you know what this is?" she asked. "You can get a lot more for this."

"Yes. I know the value. But, I will sell it to you for the price I quoted."

Babette and I became friends. She was the person who showed me that I could make more by buying for less in one place and selling for higher prices in another.

Interviewer:
Describe what it was like to sell the first time.

Elaine, Elaine:
It was awful! I was anxious. I didn't know what to expect. I arrived at the market at 4 A.M. to get a space. This market was held in the parking lot of a drive-in theater. Cars were waiting in line. Their headlights turned off. People mulled about, playing frisbee. Others huddled in their cars with the radio turned on. I turned off the lights and waited.

At 5:30 a.m. we were admitted into the lot. I thought it would be empty. Instead, vans and motor homes had arrived the night before to park in reserved spaces. I drove around the lot in the dark hoping to find a space. Finally. I found one.

Someone yelled, "You can't park there. It's an R. You can't park in an R. R is reserved.

I finally found a space. I got out of my car and walked around the rear to open the trunk. Suddenly, a crowd descended on my car. Their flashlights blinded me. They pushed and shoved trying to drag out the items I carefully packed in cardboard boxes.

They screamed at me. How much is this? How much is that? I wasn't prepared. It all happened too fast.

Someone next to me told me it was the dealers looking for bargains to resell during the day.

Interviewer: What did you do then

Elaine, Elaine:
The first time I sold, I sold out. After a month, every great thing I had was sold. Then, I had to start buying. I didn't know the area. A friend told me about antique shows. So, I reserved a space in an antique show. I could hardly afford the entrance fee

By this time I had some experience selling in the market but no antique show experience. I put a blanket on the ground and set out my merchandise just like in a flea market. However, the other dealers had elaborate tables with beautiful objects on them. I waited for the dealers to mob my things. They didn't. I did not have anything they wanted. I learned quickly that antique dealers at shows aren't looking for junk.

Interviewer:
What did you do then?

Elaine, Elaine:
I knew that if I were to remain in the antique business, I would have to learn about antiques.

Interviewer:
How long did that take?

Elaine, Elaine:
One year working daily. Researching the libraries. Talking to antique dealers. Shopping antique stores. I couldn't make art. I put everything aside that I wanted to do to teach myself the business. I had no studio. I felt alone and displaced.

Little by little, I began to build stock. I would sell at the flea market and save a little money to buy one antique. Each week I would buy an antique and put it aside until finally I had enough quality items to sell. I then sold them at an annual major show in San Juan Bautista, CA. I made some money. I felt that I was improving.

However, just as I was learning the antique business, something happened unexpectedly. The bottom dropped out of the antique market. People weren't buying antiques. They were treating the shows as art exhibits.

Interviewer:
What did you do then?

Elaine, Elaine:
It was back to the markets. Only this time, I decided that I would sell really valuable items at wholesale prices, set up in a knockout display. I reasoned that whoever needed merchandise for their antique stores could not resist what I was offering. It was also at that time that I bought a van for $800 dollars and started to sell at out-of-town markets. Santa Cruz was a depressed area for antiques.

Interviewer:
Where did you buy the van?

Elaine, Elaine:
At the flea market, of course. I told my friends that it would be waiting there for me, It was the first van that I owned. A 1963 Dodge hippy van, carpeted inside with patchwork carpeting. It was a terrific deal until I got it home. It broke down continuously the first three weeks.

"Sell it!", my friend Herb said.

I couldn't. It was all that I could afford. I just prayed it would hold together crossing the hills on Route #17 at 2 A.M. (Since I became a flea market dealer, I pray a lot.)

I named the van the penny Van because I found an old penny under the carpet on the floor. I pasted it on the dashboard for good luck.

Interviewer:
Are all flea markets alike?

Elaine, Elaine:
Do you mean, do they operate alike? No. That is a major problem. The flea market dealer has to learn the different patterns of each market. Learning what sells takes time and experience. Merchandise that sells in one area may not sell in another.

Also, the conditions of the markets are always changing. The entrance fees. The times you can come to the market. Whether or not you can sleep on the lots.

For many years, sellers were allowed to sleep overnight in their vehicles. Suddenly, a local ordinance made it illegal to do this. People violating this ordinance found themselves ticketed or hauled off to jail.

Interviewer:
So what you are saying is that flea marketing as a regular business consists of an element of chance, hard work, and persistence on the part of the dealer.

Elaine, Elaine:
Not everyone is cut out to be a flea market dealer. It requires self motivation and tenacity. Also, I think a little insanity.

The most important element is chance. That is the weather. If it rains, there is no market. No money. Then, there is the vehicle you are driving. It could break down en route. This is a real fear of any flea market dealer.

The weather conditions at Marin are chancy. Sometimes, I drove 100 miles from home only to be rained on. In the winter, you sell in the wind. In the summer, you sell in dust storms. Gusts of wind blow in from the Bay, kicking the dust all over everything.

Interviewer:
You mean that people actually buy in these conditions?

Elaine, Elaine:
It didn't seem to disturb buyers or sellers. When I first started selling there, I watched in amazement while people bought dust covered merchandise in blinding clouds of dust.

Interviewer:
Which market is your favorite?

Elaine, Elaine:
The Marin County Flea Market in Sausalito, CA. I like the color of the market. The way the people dress. The merchandise which is sold. It is like traveling to another country. The Marin County Flea Market is no longer in existence. The lot was sold to develop a strip mall.

It would have been great if a permanent flea market could have been built on the lot. An open air market where people could stroll. Restaurants to eat. Indoor and out door booths for selling. It would have been a great tourist attraction since people from all over the world came to buy at this market.

I also liked the Marin County Flea Market because I got to meet people from many countries. l learned how to relate to them and to the way they buy and sell.

Interviewer:
How do the buying procedures differ?

Elaine, Elaine:
Well, it took me awhile to catch on. I lost a lot of sales. Here in the US, buying at flea markets is relatively new. People who know antiques are willing to pay fair prices for what they buy. People from foreign countries are used to buying in markets. In countries such as Mexico, the market is the center of of their social lives on Sunday.

People from foreign countries are used to getting good deals in the marketplace. Then they come to the American marketplace. They are shocked by the prices. I learned that with the Russians, you better raise the price to double. They half it and you go-for-it. There is no second chance. They don't counter-bid.

With the Orientals, it is excruciatingly slow. You arrive at a median price after what seems like hours of negotiating. The French like to talk in their native language, acting as though no one understands French but them. I wait until after the sale and then surprise them with a few pat phrases in French.

Interviewer:
Where do you buy your merchandise?

Elaine, Elaine:
I am, very careful where I buy. I don't want to find myself erroneously selling 'hot items'. I buy jewelry and furniture from wholesalers to the trade.

When I first started and didn't have any money, I bought at garage sales. This required all kinds of time. I wasn't good at fighting off the other dealers, So, I decided to find other sources for merchandise. That's when I decided to buy from wholesalers.

Garage sales are an experience. The dealers get there very early. Some show up the day before and buy everything of value. It takes a lot of guts to do that. Walk up and knock on someone's door and tell them that you have to be at work the next day - will they let you see what they are selling, now. Most people won't turn you away.

"I simply can't do that".

The other problem with relying on garage sales as a source is not knowing if you can buy enough to sell.

Interviewer:
Do you mean that you don't stock up for more than a week?

Elaine, Elaine:
Yes. I never seem to be able to get ahead. One weekend, I will sell a lot of merchandise. By the following week, I am broke. It is all spent paying bills or restocking for the following weekend. I have not been able to take a vacation since I started. I can't chance it. You get off pattern. Or it rains, Or the van breaks down. Or the insurance bill is due. Or your children need something. Taking off for one weekend throws off your selling rhythm.

Interviewer:
Is there a rhythm to flea marketing?

Elaine, Elaine:
I think so.

One weekend off and I forget the rhythm of how to sell. I have a light, persistent swinging approach. I joke with the customer, share stories, and experiences. When I am alone and making art, I am quiet and serious. Out in the market, I have to switch modes. Art and the market doesn't seem to work together until now, since I am creating the Million Dollar Flea Market.

Interviewer:
Is it possible to make a living flea marketing?

Elaine, Elaine:
It is not impossible. Everything is relative to a person's needs. Flea marketing is a difficult profession. It is easier to use it as a supplementary income.

Interviewer:
What would your advice be to someone who wants to enter the market as a professional dealer?

Elaine, Elaine:
One word...TENACITY!

Interviewer:
I'd like to make a comment. I find that as I am sitting here in your studio taking in the vast amount of products in this project, I am suddenly aware of fantasizing about money. Lots of it. There seems to be no end to the amount of money to be made from this. It's open ended.

Elaine, Elaine:
Yes. It boggles my mind also. When I first began to make the Million Dollar Flea Market, I had no idea that it would grow to this proportion. Ideas for more objects to make more money have been added by people visiting me. The Million Dollar Flea Market
seems to encourage that. It reinforces what is most important to people at this time, A fantasy about money: making it fast and creatively so that there is enough spare time to be able to do what we want to do.

I had an accountant who stopped by the studio last week. She sees it as a corporation.

"It could go on for years," she said, "traveling as a theater work, being refilled, creating employment for others."

In retrospect, I see it as the flea market dealer's ultimate dream. THE BIG DEAL. We dealers are always talking about it, fantasizing it, only we see it as the great find. A treasure unearthed in the market at a low price which turns out to be something of value.