A good flea market can be a prepper’s shopping paradise, if you have the patience to “sort through the junk” to find what you are looking for.
Here’s an example of a flea market that is legendary
For nearly 50 years, there’s been a flea market (known locally as the “dog sale”) near Colony, Missouri … located several miles between Colony and Rutledge (their website is HERE CLICKY). In point of fact, for a while there were two competing flea markets (but that’s another story).
Colony is a town of about 45 people. Rutlege has a population of 109, but Rutledge also contains Zimmerman’s Store, an absolute treasure trove of a resource for preppers and a regular stopping place for us when we are in the area… (we profiled the store in this article on 3BY).
Flea market in March…
During peak events, if the weather is good, there have been as many as 25,000 people visiting the Colony Flea Market on Saturdays…
Think about that… the local population of the four surrounding counties — in FULL — don’t add up to 25,000 people… that’s a lot of folks to travel to the middle of nowhere…
Why a flea market?
While many people go to flea markets to find bargains on used tools or shop for antiques for their home or to resale (many dealers haunt the Colony flea market), there’s also a lot of items that are valuable to preppers, at prices that are negotiable.
Additionally, and I’m just going to throw this out there, depending on the state you are located in and local laws, you can buy and sell firearms on a “private sale” basis there. I personally do not recommend doing this with random strangers, because you never know where that firearm came from and if you sell, you never know if that firearm will be used in a crime. Having said that, it is legal.
Here’s a podcast we did that talks about flea markets and the Dog Sale in particular.
You can find things at a flea market that are hard/impossible to find in a store
It’s often impossible to buy used at a store, and a lot of times we preppers would rather have the older, used, American made items than the new imported junk that is sold in stores.
For example, I love American made Craftsman brand tools, but I don’t love the imported junk they have switched over to. I’d rather buy a used, made in the USA socket than a new one made in China.
Add to this that many of the hand tools that we use and have multiple copies of simply are no longer made anywhere.
Flea Markets are great to buy/pick up heavy/bulky items that are expensive to ship
Two perfect examples of bulky/heavy/expensive to ship come to mind following my last visit to colony.
First are water tanks / water barrels… they are very big and bulky, and yet when you buy one used it costs one-third of the price of a new one. They are a perfect flea market pick-up.
Another item that was a great pickup the last time we were at Colony were steel shooting targets. A local manufacturer of shooting trees, gongs, and other steel shooting targets was there, and you could choose / take home your purchase with you, no messing around with shipping or later pick-up. He is a regular, so you could order things he didn’t have with him this trip to pick up next month.
Flea markets are not for everybody
To some, this is a pile of junk. To others, it’s a treasure trove of prepping items waiting to be traded for…
If you are having trouble with a reluctant spouse and that spouse is a neatness fanatic, whatever you do, don’t take your spouse to a flea market and buy anything prepper related!
Flea Market Pro Tips:
Cash is king. Don’t bring credit cards, and always ask for a better price than is marked. They may say no but they will be nice about it, because they expect everybody to ask. Don’t ask for a receipt, you won’t get one so don’t waste your time.
Beware buying things that are commonly stolen, power tools in particular. A lot of stolen goods flow through flea markets, you don’t want to be around that.
Unlike 30 years ago, undercover law enforcement will be there, take that to the bank. Always, ALWAYS turn down solicitations of anything illegal at a flea market (well, always… we are law abiding people here at 3BY, we don’t need that stuff in our lives).
One last thing: Never get into an argument with a stranger at a flea market. Some people are nuts, and a lot of these folks are armed. Just go about your business and you will be fine.
Used hand tools? Take your pick, dirt cheap.
As a rule, I don’t go to flea markets because so many people smoke, and you can’t get away from it. But one of the few times I did go, I picked up the biggest Pyrex oblong casserole dish I ever saw for $10. It would have cost me $60 anywhere else if I could even find one that large. I don’t need one that large for my family, but for when the group assembles after the SHTF, it will be perfect in my wood cook stove to feed a bunch of people. Your everyday cookware just won’t cook the amount of food you need for after.
They can also be a great place to pick up quality cast iron. You need to know what you are looking for, because there’s a lot of junk cast iron, but I’ve seen some really good stuff go dirt cheap.
If you like the old Craftsman tools look into KD tools. They made the Craftsman brand. Also make Napa hand tools ( at least they did 10 years ago )
I didn’t know who made the tools for Sears, thanks, I will check them out!