Last-minute holiday shopping at flea markets provide great gifts, awesome savings

If you’re looking for unique gifts, you might want to consider doing your holiday shopping at a flea market.

Dec 18, 2012

If you’re looking for unique gifts, you might want to consider doing your holiday shopping at a flea market.

According to the National Flea Market Association, there are more than 1,100 flea markets in America that are visited by over 150 million customers each year. Their site includes directory links. A Google search will also bring up various flea market directories And these days most will have a website, such as Brooklyn Flea in New York.

Since shopping at a flea market can be overwhelming, especially the large ones like the Rose Bowl Flea Market in LA, which has more than 2,500 vendors, have a plan. First, check out what’s there before really shopping. “Do a quick walk-through of the whole market before purchasing. You may find that one vendor has better deals on similar items,” interior decorator and frequent flea market shopper Kristie Barnett explains to us.

Next, you need to have an idea of the value of items in order to bargain. If you’re looking for vintage items, you also have to be able to distinguish between real vintage clothing items and knockoffs or fakes. “If you are shopping for a specific item, say McCoy pottery, a quick Google search will tell you what to look for,” says Barnett.

Read the rest of this story on MadameNoire.com.