At the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, shoppers hop from booth to booth, visiting 150 vendors – some operating full-fledged businesses, others selling the contents of their closets.
Lana Bortolot is one of the latter.
"I moved from a large apartment to small apartment and so I'm down a closet and a dining room and other significant space," explained Bortolot.
Lisa Lee King is also in the process of a major purge. By noon, she had found out just how lucrative a Saturday in the sun could be.
"I made $500 and it's just my own personal belongings, with music and knick knacks, and no furniture," she said. "So, I feel like that's pretty good for six hours of work."
According to Brooklyn Flea founder Eric Demby, variety is the secret to flea market success. He says with the right mix of items, sellers, who pay $100 to have a booth, can earn a profit within an hour.
"Don't bring just your fanciest stuff. And don't bring just your slockiest stuff," Demby said. "Bring something for everyone. You could make your booth selling 100 $1 items, but then you could make your profit selling your one $75 really nice lamp."
Along with offering a variety of merchandise, sellers like Bortolot say being willing to negotiate with buyers can help assure sales.
"At the end of the day, if I have to bring it back home with me, and I don't have any money for it, it's not doing me any good," she said. "So you know what? Recycle it. Put it back out there into the world. Let somebody else enjoy it."
But why set up at a flea market where you have to pay a fee as opposed to a yard sale, which won't cost you anything? The answer, sellers say, is foot traffic.
"Well there's obviously a lot more foot traffic and there's a lot of cool people here making, you know, things from silk screen t-shirts to ices so I'd rather mix among those kinds of people," said King.
Plus sellers say shoppers at flea markets, while definitely hunting for bargains, have a different mindset than those cruising yard sales.
"People come to a yard sale expecting you know to pay $2 or 50 cents for something. And I think people come to a flea market with an expectation that they're going to find something special and it's going to cost a little bit more," said Bortolot. "So I think it's a better idea."
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