This summer, with my love of flea markets and auctions at it's high, I traveled from Kentucky to visit the Jockey Lot in Anderson, South Carolina.
The Jockey Lot covers more than 65 amazing acres and accommodates more than 2,150 vendor spaces. The average daily attendance varies anywhere from 30,000 to 60,000 people. And so even on a off day, it is amazing!
I had heard of this flea market on various occasions but nothing said nor seen had me ready for what I was about to experience. Simply put, I was in hog heaven! I mean everywhere you turn, left, right, behind you, in front of you, there was booth after booth. Vendor after vendor. Item after precious item to look at. And ohhhh, how I looked. And ohhhhh how I bought. The worst part of our trip was that once there at the Jockey Lot, we realized we should have driven a truck. No, a U-haul. No, a SEMI! I am serious folks. We were in a four door, Mercury Milan, and let me tell you, there was barely room for me to get in after about four or five hours of hunting for bargains.
This was simply the best and by far, the largest flea market I have ever been to in my life! And I am sure I will visit it once again in the near future!
Here is a link to a large map of The Jockey Lot so you can see all the vendors booth numbers to get an idea of the size. And if you spot the Water Tank section, just remember that the pic attached to this, is of that very water tank. I took it from the parking lot on that side.
And for all of my fellow bargain hunters out there reading this, I thought I'd tell you my best find. It wasn't anything big in size, remember I was in a family sized car, but it was a great find to me. lol. It was a whole bowl of that fake fruit. You know, the kind that grandma had sitting in bowls in her kitchen when we were little.
Well, I'd been wanting some before and hadn't even thought of it on this trip. But way out in the middle of the flea market, there it was. I spotted it. A bowl overflowing with fake fruit. The lady vendor was very nice and cheerful. I asked her of the price and she said it was a dollar for all the fruit and if I wanted the bowl too, it'd be $1.50. Simply because she had drawn faces on a couple of them for kids in some sort of program. I was like OMG in my head. OF COURSE I WANTED IT. I WANTED IT ALL! lol. And I grabbed it up, after she placed it all in a crumpled up, re-used Walmart bag, I threw it in line on my aching arm, along with all my other bags of treasures. And then headed on down the long line of treasures still waiting on their turn to be picked.
Ah, simply the best flea marketing day I've ever had!
What's your best flea market find?
I ended shopping at the Super Walmart and up buying a Honey Suckle White hen turkey that weighed 11.93 pounds. It cost $.78 per pound, totally it out to $9.31. It has the pop up timer also, so I guess that was a good deal. I dunno really, cause the crowd was so huge, I didn't have time to really compare prices. Mostly what I went on was that the Honey Suckle White brand was the only ones that were not frozen. So being since this was my last minute decision, that was great!
What is a Peddlers Mall?
not need to stay with their booth in order for sales to occur. Customers roam the store, make their selections and pay for their entire order all at the front counters. Each item in the store is marked separately by each vendors' tag. And so the cashiers take extra care, reading each tag and so on, to ensure sales are correct.
A Look Inside the Store
Peddlers Mall in Morehead, KY
The aisles are always clean. The individual booths, most of them (99%), are very well kept. The workers are very friendly and accommodating. Overall, it is just a wonderful, thrifty shopping experience. Makes the hunt for treasures all the more fun. Not to mention how much money you save rather than shopping retail!
Do you have a Peddlers Mall close to you?
The colors remind me of old days gone by when visiting with my Grandmother, whom we called GrandMammy. And so she insisted everyone, even strangers call her that too. Anyways, she had splashes of red in her meager kitchen which were on mainly dishcloths and lots of aluminum cookwear. She was very basic by all means. Only the simpliest items did she own. Both because she was wife to a tobacco farmer with a low income, and because she didn't really want for anything fancy. 
