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Buying and Selling at the “Mother of all Antique Flea Markets”

entering brimfield sign
Three times a year, the town of Brimfield, Massachusetts is transformed from a very typical New England historic village town, into a gigantic antiques flea market of epic proportions.

Three times a year, the town of Brimfield, Massachusetts is transformed from a very typical New England historic village town, into a gigantic antiques flea market of epic proportions.  This cannot be understated. It is said that even though each of these flea markets is nearly a week in duration, try as you might, you simply can’t see everything.

These world famous occurrences happen in the months of May, July, and September.  Long, flat, well maintained tracts of pasture land magically become an endless sea of humanity, divided by straight gravel pathways, lined with pipe and white canvas tents, with strategically placed sausage vendors and porta-potty stations to keep the herding masses alive and well as they venture in to a wonderful sea of open market adventuring.

I live in Maine, about three hours from Brimfield, and I had driven down with my wife just a handful of times to look for antique bottles, or anything that struck our fancy.  I had no strategy, and no knowledge of where to begin, what sections of the market opened when, or how long  a vendor booth  I might be looking at had been set up.  Like any antiques hunter, you would prefer the “fresh” stuff that hasn’t yet been completely picked through.  So I can’t say I had ever really found a “steal”  at Brimfield. But I had heard stories. Boy, had I heard stories!  Legendary finds, rare and incredibly valuable discoveries purchased for a few dollars, that wound up being worth literally thousands of dollars.

This spring, I did a house cleanout here in Maine, and needed to move some serious inventory, so I decided I’d take the plunge myself, and set up at Brimfield. I had been told, “If it doesn’t sell at Brimfield, it won’t sell anywhere.”  The reason being that if you set up your booth for a whole five day stretch there, you will have thousands and thousands of people passing by your booth. And that is the truth!

The best decision I made, and what I would recommend to any newbie wanting to set up at Brimfield, is talk to someone you know and trust, who has set up there, preferably for years. I found just the right person, my friend Karl, who I know only really through my antique bottle hobby. I found his phone number,  tracked him down, and had a little list of questions I had written down ahead of time, and fired away.  He was all too happy to give me the inside scoop, and in fact we wound up splitting a booth together, which he was happy about, so that I could watch his booth while he would head out to hunt for fresh bargains each time a new “field” opened up.

Brimfield is something like a half a mile long, by maybe a quarter mile wide, broken up into a dozen or so individual farm properties.

Now, right there.  I had no idea what that meant, and it turned out to be critically important.  Brimfield is something like a half a mile long, by maybe a quarter mile wide, broken up into a dozen or so individual farm properties.  If you look closely, you occasionally see an actual farm house, with a garage and back yard, wedged in between this city of tents that has temporarily engulfed it. From what I can tell, these private property owners either took advantage of this giant flea market as it grew over the years, to offer booth spaces and facilities to as many people as they can squeeze on their property,  or possibly they “gave in” and made the best of things because they had no choice in the matter, as the King Kong of flea markets grew and grew around them.

Each of these properties is referred to as a “field,”  and each has a name (Shelton’s, Quaker Acres, May’s, the Meadows  etc).  If you go to the Brimfield Flea Markets’ online web site, you’ll find a listing of the different fields,  and most importantly, the days and the times that they open up.  With Karl’s guidance I lucked out, and secured a good spot in a good and well travelled field.  I say lucked out, because the best spots are reserved, or pre paid for by the vendors who are there every year, and know exactly where they want to set up.  I happened upon a cancellation, and it worked in my favor.

Most vendors stay at nearby motels, or at friends’ houses. Others are gypsy vendors, and travel in a house trailer, and sleep in it on site, while others sleep in their truck, out in the adjacent parking area.

Most vendors stay at nearby motels, or at friends’ houses.  Others are gypsy vendors, and travel in a house trailer, and sleep in it on site, while others sleep in their truck, out in the adjacent parking area.  I slept on a small cot, under my vendor tent, in amongst all my stuff, and I nearly froze to death. I should have checked the weather more closely! 

At dawn, vendors started to trickle in, with flashlights in hand. I found myself some hot coffee, and began selling bright and early.  The flow of business was not like I would have expected.  All those early arrivals were dealers, for the most part, or collectors looking for very specific things – license plates, jewelry, nutcrackers, military helmets, Valentine’s Day stuff, Tonka trucks, and on and on and on. 

I didn’t sell much early on, and didn’t have a good feeling at all.  Most of the smaller flea markets I had set up at over the years consisted of a an hour or two of a big rush early, where you made most of your sales, and then it all slows down big time, and you hit a wall, as the effects of getting up at 4 in the morning begin to take its toll. By ten in the morning, half of the dealers are asleep in their lawn chair behind their table.
But in my case, as the day moved on, the foot traffic stayed very steady, and I kept selling until late in the morning, then noon, then all the way in to the afternoon.  Buyers who had come from Boston or elsewhere, were out on the Massachusetts Turnpike in traffic jams, or they had just gotten out of church, or they worked a half day etc, and for whatever reason, by the time they got all the way to my booth, it was deep into the afternoon.

And each of the four days I was set up, the foot traffic was similar.  Just as things would slow down, and I’d start to count my money, another new wave of customers would come, and I’d just keep selling.   I was totally at the whim of the crowd, not knowing what each next hour of business would bring.  But when I’d get a break, I would talk to Karl, and talk to all the experienced vendors around me, as they had a very good idea of what to expect.  One of the big reasons they were so knowledgeable, was that they knew the schedule of when new fields would open up, or close. Each field opens on different days, and the hours vary, and are staggered, which is great. It makes it really interesting as new waves of people come in, with fresh money in their pockets.

One of the coolest visuals I found while selling at Brimfield is that as these fields open and close, you can see large crowds of customers migrating from one area of the market to another.  They are often on bicycles, or toting a four wheeled wagon, or they have a dog on a leash, or they may be wrapped in a blanket, or may be in some a sort of “flea market” costume, to get in the spirit of things.  It’s not quite Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, but I found it to be quite a spectacle. 

Make note of what type of inventory to bring next time, based on what sold, and more importantly what people said they were looking for, and what you could see they had already bought somewhere along the way.

One other piece of advice I’d like to offer, in addition to the “pre flea market research” from an experienced dealer, is make sure you take notes during the flea market, so that if and when you try it again you’ll remember clearly what worked and what didn’t work.  Make note of when the big customer rushes were and what field might be best to set up in (including the best site numbers). Also make note of what type of inventory to bring next time, based on what sold, and more importantly what people said they were looking for, and what you could see they had already bought somewhere along the way. During the day selling, you have a bunch of these details bouncing around in your sleepy head, and if you don’t make a written note, trust me, you’ll never remember!

Antique flea markets can be a blast.  But your chances of success increase greatly, if you are well prepared, bring all the right inventory, and the right creature comforts that will make your stay that much more enjoyable. Good Luck!


Bram Hepburn collects 19th-century New England bottles and glass, having spent the last 30 years digging and diving for bottles in New England and upstate New York. He has just founded an estate liquidation company and auction house, Hepburn and Co. Antiques in Eliot, Maine.

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