Trifter

Bermondsey Market, Long Lane and Bermondsey Street, London

There is a saying in London that anything stolen and sold before sunrise is legal. With this tradition, Bermondsey Market, one of London’s main antiques markets, attracts dealers from all over and is a mecca for serious collectors. Each Friday the dealers set up their stalls at dawn. Be there early, for by 9 1.m. most of the best bargains have long gone.

San Telma Flea Market, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The frenetic San Telmo Flea Market centers on Calle Defensa between Avenue Independecia and Avenue San Juan, with most of the action on Plaza Dorrego. You will join throngs of people searching for a deal among the many stalls overflowing with antiques, trinkets, costume jewelry, vintage movie posters, and artwork.

Rose Bowl Flea Market, Pasadena, California

The Rose Bowl Flea Market, featuring more than 2,000 vendors, is hands-down Los Angeles’s largest secondhand marketplace. This is the place to find pop culture artifacts – a Monkees lunch box, Barbie camper, or Wheel of Fortune pillow, perhaps, with surfboards, record collections, lawn art, and who knows what else. The flea market takes place the second Sunday of every month.

Brimfield Outdoor Antiques Show, Brimfield, Massachusetts

More than 5,000 antiques and collectibles dealers sprawl across 23 former farm fields at Brimfield’s popular flea market, making it the largest in New England. You name it, this place has it: furniture, pictures, new and secondhand clothes – all at rock bottom prices.

San Jose Flea Market, San Jose, California

The San Jose Flea Market, in existence since 1960, is one of the world’s largest. Nearly 13 kilometers of treasure-filled alleys and corridors showcase arts and crafts, comic books, jewelry, shoes, fishing supplies, tools, auto accessories, furniture, and antiques. Expect lots of food carts and snack bars. The quarter-mile Produce Row Farmer’s Market is legendary. The flea market takes place Wednesday through Sunday.

The All Night Flea Market, Wheaton, Illinois

One night a year, after the sun sets, thousands of flashlight-toting bargain hunters descend upon the town of Wheaton to search hundreds of stalls purveying old and new merchandise. They have only until morning to find their bargains, when they go home bleary-eyed and shopped out. Some say it is the most fun they have ever had a flea market. It always takes place the third weekend of August.

Shipshewana Flea Market, Shipshewana, Indiana

In the heart of Indiana’s Amish country, hundreds of vendors sell everything from fresh fruit to locally handcrafted furniture. The market began in 1922 when farmers participating in the town’s livestock auction sold miscellaneous items out in the parking lot on auction days. The flea market takes place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between May and October.

Marche Aux Puces De Clignancourt, Les Puces de Saint-Ouen at Clignancourt 48, Paris

Paris is flea market heaven, and the mother of all flea markets is Marche aux Puces de Clignancourt. Dating back to 1920 and boasting up to 3,000 stalls, this daily flea market purveys everything from jewelry, chandeliers, fabric, and paintings to musical instruments, vintage postcards, and eclectic French collections. For antique aficionados, this is pure bliss.

Daytona Flea Market, Daytona, Florida

Florida is renowned for its flea markets, but Daytona stands out among the rest. More than a thousand booths vend all kinds of interesting things. Among the expected flea market items you may spot alligator heads, concrete garden statues, high-tech golf equipment, and neon fountains. At one booth, you can get tattooed and pierced. The flea market is in full swing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday year round.

127 Corridor, Jamestown, Tennessee

Deemed the world’s longest yardsale, the 127 Corridor flea market stretches along hundreds of miles on the highway between Jamestown, Tennessee, and Gadsden, Alabama. More than 2,000 vendors – ranging from families selling goods on their front lawns to professional vendors who rent an empty lot, park, or field – sell antiques and oddities. Folks come from near and far, many in a Winnebego or pulling a trailer behind their truck to stash their goods. The flea market takes place over three weeks every August.

Sources

http://www.travelchannel.com/Travel_Ideas/Shopping/ci.World’s_Best_Flea_Markets.artTravelIdeasFmt?vgnextfmt=artTravelIdeasFmt

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-greatest-flea-markets

http://frugalliving.about.com/b/2007/09/21/worlds-best-flea-markets.htm