Meet Vendors Are Sold on Nomadic Life Style, Privacy and Big Markup

They are a hardy breed of entrepreneur, selling their wares in the open air. Some swap meet vendors are hobbyists; some sell there instead of renting a storefront, and others are mall retailers Monday through Friday who get down to basics on the weekends.

Then there are the nomads--vendors who travel the country on a circuit like the itinerant peddlers of yesteryear.

Joe Donahue is one of these, visiting swap meet after swap meet to make his living.

“I’ve been doing it 20 years, all year ‘round,” the Oregon resident said. “I make a big circle” around the country visiting the Southwest during winter, then heading north as the weather warms.

Donahue buys and sells antique and collectible items he moves around the country, carrying some in his van and warehousing inventory at various spots on his route.

“I had T-bills. I used to work like everyone else, and they were paying me interest on those T-bills,” Donahue said. Then Donahue bought a $10 German military pin and resold it at a great profit, and swap meets became his line of work.

“I get tired of it ever so often,” Donahue said. “But it’s a good business. I haven’t met a swap meeter yet who couldn’t come up with half a million dollars at any one time.”

M. Theresa Sutton, editor of National Flea Market Dealer, a trade publication that caters to vendors, said many itinerant dealers are retired people who load into a mobile home part of the year to make some extra money. “The flea market supports their travel to warm weather,” she said. Some vendors have lost their jobs and have no other way to pay bills.

Socializing and Bargain Hunting

The volume of business done by these people “is a very hard thing to pin down,” Sutton said. “They don’t talk much. It’s kind of like the old carny circuit.”

Lois Jackson loves to knit and crochet, and she has turned that hobby into cash by selling at swap meets.

“If you keep doing it and doing it, pretty soon you have enough to open a store,” Jackson said, who was doing a brisk business in caps at the most recent Rose Bowl Swap Meet and Flea Market, held on a windy Dec. 13. “I just like coming out, looking at all the people and drinking some wine.”

Hayes Bros. Furniture in Huntington Beach uses the Orange County Swap Meet and the Rose Bowl event to run special sales on damaged merchandise and other items.

“People out here want a bargain,” said Mary Ann Sandkuhl as she polished a $5.99 jewelry box marked down from $18 because it did not come with a carton. “We do well. You can’t go wrong.”

But it can be a tough way to make a living, Nevada residents Stan and Sue said as they struggled to peddle toys in the chill driving wind at the Rose Bowl.

“We do it for the freedom,” said Stan, seeking warmth in a shared cigarette with his sales companion. Added Sue: “Lots of times, it’s a losing proposition.”