Internet Auctions Bring a Big Shift To Once-Quirky Flea Markets

SAN JOSE -- Joe Bumb's trove of local sports memorabilia -- baseball cards, jerseys, autographed photos -- was once the centerpiece of his flea market store, attracting eager collectors from all over the world. Today Bumb displays them more out of habit than in hope that someone will buy them. He knows shoppers will go to the Internet in search of a better deal.

The popularity of eBay and other online auction houses is transforming the age-old ritual of the Sunday flea market. Some have been depleted as vendors find it more lucrative to put their best stuff online. Others have been remade as clearinghouses for cheap, mass-produced goods from places like China, Taiwan and Mexico.

The result is that going to flea markets, once known for their quirkiness, is no longer about the hunt for a unique item amid a lot of junk, some customers say. It's now about running errands.

Bumb's antiques and collectibles store, American Precious Metals, which his family has operated for 25 years, is a rarity in the flea market world nowadays. Nearly all other 2,200 spaces on the 45-acre swath of desert that is the San Jose Flea Market are taken up by vendors hawking things like shiny plastic toys, shifts for baby girls in every pastel color imaginable, rows of cowboy boots and prints of Jesus Christ.

"It's like a giant Wal-Mart," said Rich Alvari, director of sales for the flea market. "You don't see that garage sale knickknack stuff that people used to love to explore."

As the Internet continues to expand as a place of commerce, it is changing the relationships between sellers and buyers, giving some a boost and stifling others. This year, about 63 percent of Americans are expected to buy something online, for a total of $79 billion, according to research firm Jupitermedia Corp.

The San Jose Flea Market, the largest open-air market in the nation, still attracts a huge number of customers, up to 60,000 in a weekend, but the experience is radically different than even a decade ago. Instead of suspense, there's reliability. Instead of meandering, there's efficiency. Bargaining is more of an exception than the norm.

"I do sometimes find some unusual stuff here, but mostly I buy things like socks and sunglasses," said Jennifer Costa, 46, an information technology coordinator from the area who was shopping on a recent weekend with her husband.

Michael Shahrabani, 46, a real estate developer from Arlington, Va., who once furnished his entire house with vintage furniture from flea markets around the country, said he thinks the community atmosphere of many flea markets is being destroyed.

"I know eBay has its place but . . . it's not as much fun. Buying something on the Internet just doesn't have the same feel as interacting as a vendor. Vendors have a story about the things they are selling. It may have been a family heirloom or come from countries far away," said Shahrabani, who operates a flea market in Arlington that is trying to preserve its secondhand roots.

Flea markets -- part discount store, part carnival -- have been around in one form or another for centuries, but they began to boom in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. The San Jose Flea Market opened its doors in March 1960. It was the creation of George Bumb, who was in the landfill business and who kept finding usable castoffs in his junkyards. He wanted to create a place where people with items they no longer wanted could link up with people who wanted those items.

Over the years such commerce became an important part of the country's entrepreneurial culture, providing an opportunity for someone to start a business without putting a lot of money down and without making a long-term commitment. The number of flea markets has been steadily growing, according to the National Flea Market Association, with 2.25 million vendors and $30 billion in sales annually.