Swap meet

A large number of flea markets in rural areas offer customers second-hand goods (the so-called second-hand goods). ^[4] A wide selection of newer and generally inexpensive items is offered mainly by urban markets. A few decades ago, they were used to sell bootlegs of various goods, films or music, and even counterfeit products: clothes , shoes , bags , perfumes and so on. Their semi-spontaneous nature, often located in the center of the city under the open sky and focus on ordinary people, markedly distinguishes flea markets from ordinary stores. On some flea markets, live music concerts and even mini- carnivals were held in order to attract buyers. There are also options for flea markets that sell antiquities and simply become unnecessary things, there are no permanent outlets in such markets, and these flea markets operate, as a rule, on weekends.

Some TV shows often pay attention to second-hand things that they buy in similar markets, and (very rarely) it happens that a thing costs much more than the buyer paid for it. Among the popular ones, it is worth noting the British Antiques Roadshow program, which already has analogues in the USA , Canada , Sweden and the Netherlands .

The markets got their name from selling old clothes, which were all eaten by moths and teeming with fleas. . Since the end of the 17th century, such remarkable open-air markets in the city of Saint-Ouen began to be organized with tables and benches in the fields and various “market squares”, where junk and ragists exchanged their goods or sold them for little money. Often such markets are called one of the possible sources of unsanitary conditions .

The culture of “flea markets” has become widespread in Germany (there they are called Flohmarkt), in Russia and Belarus (flea market, beam, basting market, flea market and other names ^[1] ). In the USA, there is also a “garage sale”, where unnecessary property of one household is sold cheaply in a garage or on the lawn near your house (usually bordering the sidewalk). Also in the United States, including New York , there are permanent flea markets. ^[5]

One of the first flea markets was most likely Marché aux puces in Saint-Ouen ( Seine-Saint-Denis area in the northern suburbs of Paris ) ^[1] . This is a large bazaar in a vast territory, one of four such in Paris. The market was founded in the 19th century and in fact is a single complex consisting of 14 separate markets. ^[2]

In Japan , the Togo Shrine flea market, located in Tokyo , is most famous. ^[6] In this country, as well as in Europe, flea markets are popular, and this market is far from the only one in Japan.

There are also several well-known flea markets in Russia. The most famous and long-existing flea market is located near the Udelnaya station in St. Petersburg. ^[7] The market began its work in the nineties of the twentieth century, and since then it has not stopped and has not changed its location. The market on Udelnaya combines elements of both the traditional flea market, where people sell their own things that ceased to be necessary, and the territory of tents and outlets constantly located there, from which industrial products are sold.

In Moscow, the most famous flea markets are the Izmailovsky Opening Day ^[6] near the Partizanskaya metro station and the Levsha market ^[8] , which has changed its location several times and is currently located in Khimki (formerly located in the vicinity of the Novopodrezkovo railway station). Lefty is one of the largest flea markets in Russia. ^[8] Another flea market near Moscow is located near the Bolshevo platform in Korolev, but it works once every two weeks. ^[four]

In Feodosia , as well as a number of other small cities, the flea market is adjacent to the central city market. Most sellers are present there only on weekends, despite the fact that the market itself operates daily.

In the Urals , the flea market in Orenburg is known. ^[9]

The activity of such markets in Russia is not regulated in any way and in fact they are illegal. ^[four]

In most cases, the attitude towards flea markets in those countries where they historically exist varies from neutral to positive. But there is also a sharply negative assessment of this phenomenon. So, opponents of the existence of flea markets call them the source of the possible spread of various diseases, as well as potentially criminogenic places. ^[four]

• Brednikova O., Kutafyeva Z. The old thing as a character of the flea market // The untouchable stock. - 2004. - No. 34 . - S. 91-96 .
• Voronkova L. V., Sotnikova E. V., Pachenkov O. V. “This is not a market”: a game with formats // Practices and Interpretations: Journal of Philological, Educational and Cultural Studies. - 2016. - T. 1 , No. 4 . - S. 142-184 .
• Narsky I.V. Anonymous life, anonymous death, anonymous things: about a flea market and secondary materiality // Perm University Herald. Story. - 2019 .-- Issue. 1 (44) . - S. 101-113 . - DOI : 10.17072 / 2219-3111-2019-1-101-113 .
• Pachenkov O. V. Flea market in the perspective of social policy: the “eyesore” of the city or the institution of “everyday economy”? // Social policy: realities of the XXI century. Vol. 2 . - M .: Pomatur, 2004 .-- S. 271-314. - 464 p. - ISBN 5-86208-150-X .
• Pachenkov O. V., Voronkova L. V. Flea market as a “city scene” // Microurbanism. The city is in the details. Sat articles / under. open Edited by O. Brednikova, O. Zaporozhets. - M .: New Literary Review, 2014. - S. 132-169. - 352 p. - (Studia Urbanica). - ISBN 978-5-4448-0178-9 .
• Kharitonova T.V. Flea market is also a market // Russian regions: a look into the future. - 2016. - No. 4 (9) . - S. 38-49 .
• Shcheglova L.V. Flea market as a cultural phenomenon // Service plus. - 2016. - T. 10 , No. 1 . - S. 81-88 .
• L., D. (2006), Editorial Editorial Perspectives: Flea Markets , Science & Society: A Journal of Marxist Thought and Analysis T. 70 (3): 301–307, ISSN 0036-8237 , DOI 10.1521 / siso.70.3.301  
• Heidrun th. Grigoleit, Die 100 schönsten Flohmärkte Europas , Battenberg 2006, ISBN 3-86646-007-4 .
• Ingrid Hinterecker, Trödler Tandler Flohmarktstandler , Löcker 2001, ISBN 3-85409-324-1 .
• Gabriele Jöck, Flohmarktführer. Tipps & Tricks für Sammler, Schatzsucher und Schnäppchenjäger , Waldkirch 4. Auflage 11/2009, ISBN 978-3-927455-37-5 .
• Sebastian Münz, Flohmarkt - Märkte, Menschen, Waren , 4. Auflage, Röschen-Verlag 09/2008, ISBN 978-3-940908-01-8 .
• Sebastian Münz, Das schlaue Buch vom Flohmarkt - Was der Profi alles weiß , Knesebeck 03/2008, ISBN 3-89660-523-2 .

Directory of flea markets of the world The most famous flea markets around the world