What It Really Takes to Run a 15,000-Square-Foot, 125+ Vendor Flea Market

Sep 14

17 min read

People occasionally tell Momma and me that they would love to own a flea market someday.

And I get it.

From the outside, it sounds pretty fun.

You get to spend your days surrounded by antiques, vintage treasures, collectibles, handmade items, weird things nobody can identify, and approximately seventeen pieces of furniture you desperately want to take home even though your husband has made it very clear that your house does not need another cabinet.

What's not to love?

But there's a whole other side of running a flea market that customers—and sometimes even vendors—don't necessarily see.

The Old Pioneer Flea Market is roughly 15,000 square feet, spread across two floors, and home to more than 125 vendors at any given time.

That's a lot of people.

That's a LOT of merchandise.

And that's a whole lot of moving parts.

Running a place like this isn't simply renting out booths, unlocking the doors in the morning, sitting behind a cash register and collecting money.

If only.

There are decisions being made every day that most people will never know about. There are problems being handled before anyone else realizes there was a problem. There are bills, repairs, policies, personalities, schedules, vendor situations, customer situations, employee situations, technology issues, marketing decisions and about a thousand other things happening behind the scenes.

Sometimes a vendor or customer sees the final decision.

What they don't see are the twelve things that led to it.

That's part of owning any business, I suppose.

So, if you've ever wondered what it actually takes to run a large vendor flea market—or you're crazy enough to be considering opening one yourself—here are a few things we've learned along the way.

And let me make one thing clear before we start:

This is NOT a complete list.

We've been doing this for five years and I still don't have that list.

I'm beginning to suspect nobody does.

First, You're Going to Need Energy

Let's start with the obvious.

Energy.

Lots of it.

Preferably available in bulk.

Coffee helps.

There is an unbelievable amount of walking involved in running a building this size. There are stairs. Furniture gets moved. Merchandise gets moved. Booths change. Vendors move in. Vendors move out. Something needs carried upstairs. Something else needs brought downstairs.

Someone needs help loading.

Someone needs help unloading.

There's a spill.

There's a mystery object sitting in the middle of an aisle.

There's a price tag missing.

There's a customer looking for something they swear they saw three months ago somewhere "over by that one booth."

You know the one.

There are days I look at how many steps I've taken and wonder why owning a flea market hasn't given me the body of an Olympic athlete.

It has not.

Very disappointing.

Physical energy is only part of it, though.

You need mental energy, too.

Because while your body is running around a 15,000-square-foot building, your brain is simultaneously keeping track of vendors, customers, bills, schedules, social media, inventory, maintenance, events, booth openings, waiting lists, advertising, problems and approximately 37 ideas you had while walking from one side of the building to the other.

Running a flea market is a constant exercise in switching gears.

You Need Patience. So. Much. Patience.

If you're not a patient person when you open a flea market, you're either going to become one...

...or you're going to lose your ever-loving mind.

Possibly both.

You are working with people all day, every day.

Customers.

Vendors.

Employees.

Delivery people.

Contractors.

People calling on the phone.

People messaging Facebook.

People asking questions.

People asking the same question someone asked five minutes ago.

People who misunderstood something.

People who didn't read the sign.

People who definitely read the sign but would like to know if it applies to them.

People who are frustrated.

People who are excited.

People who want to tell you the entire history of the item they're purchasing.

And honestly?

That last one is usually pretty fun.

Patience isn't just about tolerating people, though.

It's about understanding that everybody who walks up to you is coming from somewhere you can't see.

And that includes your vendors.

A vendor may be frustrated about a policy because they don't understand what caused us to create it.

A customer may be irritated about something because they don't know what happened ten minutes before they walked through the door.

At the same time, they don't know what we're dealing with either.

That's why patience has to go both directions.

Sometimes I wish I could hand everyone a little behind-the-scenes report when they walk through the door:

"Here's everything currently happening that you don't know about. Please keep this in mind before judging today's decisions."

😂

But that's not how life works.

So you communicate.

Which brings me to...

You Need People Skills Because You're Going to TALK

If you don't like talking to people, I would strongly reconsider this particular career path.

Talking is probably 90% of my job.

I talk to customers.

I talk to vendors.

I talk to employees.

I talk to Momma.

I talk on the phone.

I answer messages.

I explain policies.

I explain decisions.

I listen to concerns.

I answer questions.

I work through disagreements.

I explain things again.

And sometimes I explain the thing I just explained because apparently I did not explain it as well as I thought I did.

Communication is one of the biggest parts of running a market.

And communication isn't just talking.

It's listening.

You need to be able to hear what someone is actually trying to tell you—even when they're not explaining it very well.

You need to know when somebody wants a solution and when somebody really just wants to be heard.

You need to know when to be flexible and when you absolutely cannot be.

You need to be friendly without becoming a pushover.

You need to be understanding while still running a business.

You need to have uncomfortable conversations.

You need to occasionally tell someone no.

You need to explain why.

And sometimes you need to accept that you've explained yourself as well as you possibly can and that person still isn't going to agree with you.

That's okay.

People skills don't mean making everybody happy.

If you have 125+ vendors, employees and thousands of customers coming through your doors, making everybody happy is impossible.

Sometimes good people skills simply mean treating someone respectfully while making a decision they don't like.

You Need a Good Crew

I don't care how independent you are.

I don't care how organized you are.

I don't care how hard you work.

And yes, I don't even care if you're a woman. 😉

One person cannot hack this alone.

You might be able to keep it afloat for a little while by yourself.

You might even convince yourself that you're doing just fine.

But a business this size needs people.

Good people.

And Momma and I have been incredibly fortunate in that department.

Our girls have become one of the most important pieces of The Old Pioneer Flea Market.

And I don't just mean because we need someone standing behind the register.

That's actually one of the smallest parts of what having a good crew gives you.

You Need People Who Will Have Your Back

Things happen.

People call in sick. Something needs handled while you're somewhere else. A customer has a question. A vendor needs something. You're trying to solve three problems simultaneously and a fourth walks through the front door.

Having people around you who know your business and genuinely care about it is invaluable.

Our girls know this place.

They know our vendors.

They know our customers.

They know Momma and me.

And they know when to jump in.

That kind of support is hard to put a dollar amount on.

You Need Sounding Boards

This might be one of the biggest things our crew has given us.

I have ideas.

A lot of ideas.

Some of them are good.

Some of them become good after a little work.

And I'm sure there have been a few where the girls have wondered if someone should confiscate my coffee.

When you're an owner, it's incredibly easy to get inside your own head.

You have an idea and immediately start seeing all the reasons it could work.

That's why you need people around you who are comfortable saying:

"Okay...but what about this?"

Our girls have played devil's advocate more times than I could count.

They've pointed out perspectives Momma and I hadn't considered.

They've helped us talk through policies.

They've listened while we've debated changes.

They've helped us figure out how something might affect our vendors, customers or employees before we actually implement it.

Sometimes they tell us they love an idea.

Sometimes they make it better.

And occasionally they're basically our human brakes.

Those conversations have quietly shaped The Old Pioneer Flea Market more than they probably realize.

And Sometimes You Need Guinea Pigs

This is also important.

😂

When we want to change something, try something new, rearrange a process or test whether an idea actually makes sense outside my own brain...

Guess who gets volunteered?

The girls.

Sometimes you need someone who can actually try the thing you're proposing and say:

"Ashley, this is way too complicated."

Or:

"Actually, this works really well."

There's a big difference between an idea working on paper and working on a Saturday afternoon when customers are lined up at the register.

Your crew is often the first group who can tell you which one you've created.

Listen to them.

You Need People Who Aren't Exactly Like You

You don't need a room full of people who agree with everything you say.

In fact, I think that would be dangerous.

Momma and I don't always see things exactly the same way.

Our girls don't always see things the way either of us does.

And that's GOOD.

Different personalities notice different problems.

Different ages bring different perspectives.

Different life experiences change how people interpret situations.

Someone who thinks exactly like you can confirm what you already believe.

Someone who thinks differently can show you something you completely missed.

The trick is creating an environment where people feel comfortable telling you.

As an owner, you ultimately have to make the decision.

But that doesn't mean you have to make it in an echo chamber.

You Need a Good Bookkeeper

This is considerably less exciting than vintage treasures.

It is also considerably more important.

You need someone who understands the money.

Period.

When you're dealing with more than 125 vendors, you're not simply ringing up merchandise and putting all that money into one bank account.

Different merchandise belongs to different people.

Rent needs tracked.

Sales need tracked.

Commissions may need calculated.

Vendor payments need calculated.

Taxes exist because apparently the government also enjoys flea markets.

Then there are your own expenses.

Utilities.

Payroll.

Insurance.

Maintenance.

Advertising.

Supplies.

Software.

Repairs.

Processing fees.

And all the other little expenses that don't look very scary individually but can turn into a monster when you add them together.

You need accurate records.

You need to know where the money is going.

You need to know whether the business is actually making money—not whether it feels busy.

Those are two completely different things.

A packed parking lot can make you feel fantastic.

Your books will tell you whether you should actually feel fantastic.

Find a good bookkeeper.

And then appreciate the heck out of them.

You Need the Right Computer System

I cannot imagine trying to operate a market our size with nothing but a cash register, handwritten tags and a notebook.

Actually, I can imagine it.

It's one of my nightmares.

Your point-of-sale system is basically the nervous system of a vendor market.

When you've got 125+ vendors, potentially thousands upon thousands of individual items, and merchandise constantly coming and going, you need a system capable of keeping up.

You need to be able to identify whose merchandise sold.

You need accurate sales records.

You need vendor reports.

You need a checkout process that isn't going to take twelve years every time someone brings a cart full of merchandise from fifteen different booths to the register.

For us, having a system that works with vendor numbers and barcodes has made a huge difference.

But I don't think there's one perfect program for every flea market.

The important thing is finding a system that fits your operation.

Think beyond opening day.

What happens if you grow?

How easy is the system for employees to learn?

How are mistakes corrected?

What reports can you generate?

How will you pay vendors?

How much manual work will still be required?

A cheap system that creates ten extra hours of work every week isn't necessarily cheap.

And a fancy system with 900 features you'll never use isn't necessarily better.

Find what works for the way your business operates.

You Need Rules—and You Need a Backbone

Nobody dreams about opening a flea market because they're passionate about writing vendor policies.

At least I hope not.

But once you have more than a hundred different vendors operating under one roof, you need rules.

Clear ones.

Where can merchandise be placed?

What can be sold?

When is rent due?

What happens to untagged merchandise?

What happens when merchandise creeps into an aisle?

How are discounts handled?

What happens when someone moves out?

What happens when something gets broken?

And on and on.

Many of our policies exist because at some point something happened that made us realize:

"Well. Apparently we need a rule for that."

That's small-business ownership in a nutshell.

And this is one of those places where I wish vendors could sometimes see what's happening from our side.

A rule that seems silly when you're looking at your individual booth can make a lot more sense when you're looking at 125+ vendors as a whole.

An exception for one person doesn't always stay an exception for one person.

A few inches of merchandise outside one booth might not seem important until dozens of vendors do the same thing.

Something that doesn't create a problem today may create a giant one when it's repeated across 15,000 square feet.

As owners, we're responsible for the whole building.

That means sometimes we have to make decisions based on the whole—even when an individual person doesn't completely understand or agree with them.

You Need Good Vendors—Not Just Full Booths

An empty booth doesn't make money.

That makes it very tempting to fill every available space with the first person willing to pay rent.

We've learned that filling a booth and filling a booth with the right vendor are not necessarily the same thing.

Your vendors create your market.

Their merchandise determines what customers find when they walk through the doors.

Their booth upkeep affects how your entire building looks.

Their attitudes affect your staff.

Their interactions affect other vendors.

Their communication affects you.

And their reliability matters.

A good vendor isn't simply someone who pays rent.

They're someone who contributes something positive to the overall market.

Sometimes waiting for the right vendor is better than filling an empty booth tomorrow.

You Need Customers to Have a Reason to Come Back

Inventory changes.

That's one of our biggest advantages.

We're not a traditional retail store where customers know exactly what will be sitting on Shelf 4 next Thursday.

Something can arrive this afternoon and be gone tomorrow morning.

That means every trip can be different.

But you still have to give people reasons to keep making those trips.

Fresh merchandise matters.

Vendors keeping their booths maintained matters.

Seasonal changes matter.

Events can matter.

Sales can matter.

Customer service definitely matters.

And sometimes the reason someone comes back isn't because they need anything at all.

They simply enjoy being there.

That's the goal.

You Need to Market the Market

Opening the doors is not marketing.

Posting one blurry picture on Facebook every two weeks isn't much better.

People have an enormous number of options for where to spend their time and money.

You have to remind them that you exist.

For us, social media has become a huge part of that.

We show individual finds.

We do Market Walk-Throughs.

We show new merchandise.

We ask questions.

We make jokes.

We show behind-the-scenes moments.

Sometimes I put entirely too much thought into a Facebook post about an object that costs $7.

But all those little pieces add up.

And one of the biggest things we've learned is that people don't only want to see what you're selling.

They want to know who they're buying it from.

They want stories.

They want personalities.

They want to laugh.

They want to feel like they're part of the place.

You don't have to make your small business look like a giant corporation.

You're not one.

That's your advantage.

You Need to Be Willing to Change Your Mind

Sometimes you'll make a decision and discover it doesn't work.

Change it.

Sometimes you'll launch something and nobody cares.

Move on.

Sometimes you'll think customers are going to LOVE something.

They won't.

Sometimes you'll underestimate something and customers will go crazy for it.

Pay attention.

We've changed policies.

We've changed processes.

We've changed how we use areas of the building.

We've started things.

We've stopped things.

We've brought ideas back in a different form.

We've learned from vendors, customers, employees and our own mistakes.

Changing your mind isn't automatically a sign that the first decision was stupid.

Sometimes it means you learned something you didn't know when you made it.

That's growth.

You Need to Be Okay With Solving Problems All Day

If you dream of owning a flea market because you picture yourself sitting behind a beautiful antique counter drinking coffee and chatting with customers all day...

I have some unfortunate news.

You are now the manager.

The maintenance department.

The marketing department.

Human resources.

Furniture mover.

Customer service.

Lost-and-found.

Technology department.

Event planner.

Mediator.

Detective.

Decorator.

Sign maker.

Occasional therapist.

And the person everyone finds when nobody knows who else to ask.

Owning a business is largely solving one small problem after another.

Some days you solve ten.

Some days you solve one and somehow it takes nine hours.

And quite a few of those problems are solved through—you guessed it—talking.

You Need a Sense of Humor

I genuinely think this should be listed as a business expense.

Something weird happens almost every day.

Sometimes all you can do is laugh.

When you have 125+ vendors, thousands of customers, thousands upon thousands of objects, multiple employees, two floors and 15,000 square feet...

Things are going to happen.

There will be misunderstandings.

There will be ridiculous situations.

There will be things found in places where they absolutely do not belong.

There will be conversations you could not possibly explain to someone who wasn't there.

If you take every little thing too seriously, this business will eat you alive.

Laugh when you can.

You Need Boundaries—And We're Still Learning This One

When you own a small business, there is always something else you could be doing.

Always.

One more message.

One more item to price.

One more post to schedule.

One more booth to straighten.

One more bill to check.

One more idea to research.

One more thing to carry downstairs.

There is no magical moment when the entire list is finished and the business announces:

"Congratulations! Everything is done. Please go home and relax."

I keep waiting.

So far, nothing.

You have to learn that some things will still be there tomorrow.

We're still learning this ourselves.

And Sometimes You Need People to Give You a Little Grace

This might be the part of this article I most hope our customers and vendors take away from it.

You don't know everything happening behind the scenes of the businesses you visit.

And that's okay.

You're not supposed to.

When you walk into The Old Pioneer Flea Market, we want you to shop, explore, laugh, find something you love and enjoy yourself.

You shouldn't have to worry about what happened before we unlocked the doors that morning.

But sometimes I think understanding that there is another side can make a difference.

You might see a new policy.

We might see the six months of problems that caused us to finally create it.

You might wonder why we didn't immediately fix something.

We may be juggling three more urgent things you don't know exist.

A vendor might think we're making a decision based solely on their situation.

We may be looking at how that same decision affects 124 other vendors, our employees, our customers and the business itself.

That doesn't mean we're always right.

We aren't.

It doesn't mean we don't make mistakes.

Good Lord, do we ever.

It simply means there's usually more to the story than what can be seen from one side of the counter.

A little patience, communication and grace from everybody goes a very long way.

You Need to Care About the Place

Customers can tell.

Vendors can tell.

Employees can definitely tell.

If you're only looking at booth rent and sales numbers, you're missing what makes a flea market special.

These buildings become little communities.

People make friends here.

Vendors help each other.

Customers develop favorite booths.

Employees get to know regulars.

People bring their kids and eventually their grandkids.

Someone finds something that reminds them of their grandmother.

Someone else finds the exact toy they had when they were eight years old.

A $5 object can unlock a memory somebody hasn't thought about in forty years.

That's the magic part.

You have to care enough to protect that.

So, What Does It Really Take to Run a Flea Market?

Energy.

Patience.

People skills.

Coffee.

A good crew.

A good bookkeeper.

The right point-of-sale system.

Accurate records.

Clear policies.

A backbone.

Good vendors.

Marketing.

Problem-solving.

Flexibility.

Communication.

A sense of humor.

Probably more coffee.

And a willingness to admit you don't know everything.

Five years into this adventure, Momma and I are still learning.

I hope we're still learning five years from now.

Because I don't think you ever completely figure out a business like this.

You just get better at figuring out the next thing.

Ashley's 2 Cents: A Booth Is Not a Flea Market

I'm going to end this with something I think is important, especially for anyone reading this because they're considering opening a flea market of their own.

Running a successful flea market booth and owning a successful flea market are two completely different animals.

Being good at one does not automatically mean you'll be good at the other.

You can have an incredible eye for merchandise.

You can know exactly what sells.

You can build beautiful displays.

You can price things perfectly.

You can manage several booths successfully.

You can make great money as a vendor.

Those are fantastic skills.

But owning the building that houses all those vendors requires an entirely different set of skills on top of them.

We've watched vendors over the years decide to try their hand at opening stores or markets of their own. Some later ended up back with us after those businesses didn't work out.

I don't say that smugly.

I completely understand how it happens.

Because when Momma and I started The Old Pioneer Flea Market, I was naïve about plenty of things.

There were things I simply didn't know.

There were things I didn't even know that I needed to know.

There's a big difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance just means you haven't learned it yet.

And Lord knows I've learned.

We've learned as we've gone.

We've made mistakes.

We've changed things.

We've asked questions.

We've figured things out because we had no other choice.

But we were also incredibly fortunate.

We didn't start with absolutely nothing but an idea and a building.

We had people around us who understood different pieces of business and were willing to help us.

We had enough of a base understanding to build from.

When we didn't understand something, we had people we could ask.

As the business grew, we learned with it.

And because that foundation was strong enough to keep us standing while we figured out the things we didn't know, we survived our learning curve.

That's what worked for us.

It won't work for everybody.

Some people need far more preparation before taking that leap.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

In fact, knowing that about yourself before signing a lease, buying a building or taking on dozens of vendors could save you an enormous amount of money and heartache.

Because you're not just taking responsibility for your own merchandise anymore.

You're taking responsibility for a business other people are depending on, too.

Employees may depend on that paycheck.

Vendors may depend on those sales.

Customers expect you to be open.

Bills still arrive during slow months.

The furnace doesn't care whether sales were good this week.

Neither does the electric company.

And when something goes wrong, everybody looks toward the owner.

That's a very different feeling than looking at your booth and wondering what you should bring in next week.

So if you're reading this because you dream of opening your own flea market someday, please don't take this article as:

"Here's everything you need to know."

Absolutely not.

This isn't even close.

Five years in and I still couldn't give you a complete list.

If I ever figure it out, I'll write another article.

Don't hold your breath. 😂

This is simply a glimpse at some of the things we've learned while running ours.

And if you're reading this as one of our vendors or customers, maybe it gives you a little glimpse behind our curtain, too.

You don't see everything Momma and I are dealing with at any given moment.

Just like we don't always know everything happening in your life.

Sometimes you're seeing one decision.

We're seeing the 125+ people that decision touches.

Sometimes you're seeing the person standing behind the counter.

You're not seeing the conversations, spreadsheets, bills, repairs, messages, meetings, phone calls, worries, experiments, mistakes and decisions that followed her there that morning.