Surprise memory-jogger arrived this morning...

Do you visit vintage fairs, COVID notwithstanding?

  • Yes, as a buyer.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, as a seller.

    Votes: 2 40.0%

  • No. I hate them!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No, not yet - but I really ought to.

    Votes: 3 60.0%
  • Total voters
    5
NylonNostalgia

NylonNostalgia

VFG Member
A friend sent me these photos by email this morning that were taken by her in 2014 of my vintage clothing stand at the Victoria Hall in Saltaire, Yorkshire. I have never seen these pics before today, so I thought I'd share them here in case anyone used to visit the Saltaire fair and might have even popped on to my stand. It was around 2014/15 that I stopped doing the vintage fairs to focus just on online sales instead. That said, I loved the banter and the nice people I met, and of course it was great to meet my customers in person :)

No shortage of people looking:
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Only £10 for a vintage blouse? Whatever was I thinking of?!
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Dresses. Lots of them...
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Foundationwear too - always popular...
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This one is of the biggest stand I ever had, at the Festival of Vintage in York. Roughly a quarter of the mezzanine floor. Over 200 vintage dresses, plus the rest. Staff of four and we still couldn't keep control, it was so busy. That was real fun - I miss it!
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Here I am on my stand at the Victoria Baths in Manchester:
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Retro Ruth said:
I'm in the South, so don't know Saltaire. I used to do smaller fairs in London, mostly in pub function rooms. I also decided to focus on online a few years ago.
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Seems to be the pattern, Ruth, I think. Quite possibly due to an aversion to lugging heavy boxes up flights of stairs twice a day lol :-)
 
denisebrain said:
It's so weird, but after all this time isolated (Washington State, Pacific Northwest, US) every time I see a scene in a movie with many people together I flinch. Seeing people at a show together... it's been soooo long!
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Haha - I know exactly what you mean Maggie, we are social creatures and its not natural for us to be apart. Don't forget that those pictures from the Saltaire fair (god bless you, Sir Titus Salt!) go back to 2014, long before the plague hit us. I've had both jabs now so I'm ready to mix and mingle again, and a vintage fair would be a great starting point! I do miss the 'cut n'thrust' of vintage fairs, lol.
 
Love those photos. You have a huge inventory!

I know we all miss the shopping and the selling at vintage fairs and expos. Not really a large venue at all, but we have a local street fair that started up here last month and I have sold (and shopped) there twice. I "released" a lot of things I no longer had room for, made decent money for the small amount of time and effort (it was across the street from me, can you believe it?). But the best thing was getting out and talking about vintage with people, it felt wonderful. It made me feel young again! Most of the vintage clothing did not sell or even get many lookers, except for ALL of my vintage 70s and 80s jeans and some 60s chunky leather belts and a smattering of costume jewelry. Vintage linens got many lookers but few buyers. What sold the most was vintage fabrics, which I had brought a lot of. And baskets! So this coming week I am bring only vintage fabrics and maybe a mid century decorative things to add interest.

Emma, I want to shop with you!
 
I have done vintage-only selling at a small flea market only once, but used to sell at a flea market once a year to sell off whatever I had to get rid of. I love both selling and buying... I've been helping a few times now with the monthly flea markt (outdoors) for the charity that I volunteer with a bit. They collection donations (mostly clothes), sort them and pack them up and send them to refugee camps. Whatever is no use for the refugee camps (skimpy clothes, suits and much more) is set aside for the flea market. I usually help with setting up in the morning and then with selling - we have volunteers doing variable shifts. I agree, it's nice to see people again, talk to them, and there's always a nice vibe at these flea markets. People tend to hang around for a bit and take their time. I've been shopping for myself and for friends too a bit - not much vintage there, but there's always something cool to be found!
 
I have only done a few specialized antique and vintage shows years ago that were definitely exciting and super busy!!! I was at a flea market for 9 months a few years back and for the most part that was just painful but it all depends on location. Unfortunately, around here we don't really have any great flea markets that are geared to vintage. I also did a pop up shop about 3 years ago now, a week-end long affair, also painful! I think the UK is much better suited to this sort of sale than we are here in the Montreal, Quebec, Canada area. I wish there were something here so I could unload but for now we just keep plugging away online.::ironing::pcemoti
 
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