Dietikon Flohmarkt

I accompanied my friend to the Dietikon Flohmarkt, where she often has a table for secondhand-wares. We went on a sunny Saturday morning, the last day of May. 

General Impressions from the one Saturday I went here:

• Medium-sized flea-market with approximately 25 to 30 vendors
• Great location right next to the bahnhof
• Wonderful people watching - all sorts of people here, all ethnicities and backgrounds and ages and languages. 
• Not many specialty booths (though one very nice man sold bikes and did bicycle repairs, and another man sold mostly tools for woodworking and general use).
• No new or handicrafts-only booths - all were secondhand
• No food booths (within the flea-market area) selling baked goods or preserves or that sort of thing (which is a pity)
• Lots of clothing, shoes and jewelry, ranging from real gemstones (my friend sells the good stuff!) at a high price point (but still very reasonable!) to very cheap and chintzy costume jewelry (which I don't mind, either!).
• Clothing was occasionally very reasonably priced (4 Fr. for jeans and pants at my friend's table, and a 3 Fr. rack at another stall - less than Brockiland!), with some pieces going for considerably more. The range of clothing (quality, pricing) was quite large, which makes for nice browsing. (I should mention that I wasn't tempted to buy anything, however! Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but I didn't see anything that caught my eye. There were a lot of purchases made, though!)
• LOVE the fruit & veggie & flower market next door - had the most delicious strawberries, and really good prices for peonies (5 stems for 10 Fr., or thereabouts, compared to 3 stems for 10 at Migro or COOP, etc.), as well as single-stem roses (various colours and types) for just 3 Fr. (I'm told by my friend that in a florist's shop here they would range from 5 to 8 Fr. for a single stem!)
• Free toilet in the mall (Löwenzentrum), near the entrance to the Migros Restaurant.

I took a few photos:

Very dog-friendly atmosphere!

I thought these pillows were a great way to reuse unloved doilies. I also think that this project is a good use for them - maybe I'll get around to making one for myself!

And here are some photos of the fruit/veg & flower market area (very nice - small, but lovely):

We arrived and set up just before 09:00, but many (most) vendors were already up and running by then. Stalls were dismantled at various times, the first being deconstructed just before 13:00. We packed up at 15:00, and most others had started deconstruction around this time, too.

So, based on just one (sunny) Saturday at the end of May, I'm going to very tentatively advise an early start (08:00-08:30 or earlier - my friend tells me that some stalls are open by 07:00!) and say that the peak hours are roughly 09:00 - noon. :)

I saw a few sellers very early on running around frantically asking for other vendors to make change for them (which many were loathe to do, by virtue of the importance of having small change themselves!), so maybe that can be a tip: bring a wide range of cash, from small bills to large, and include many coins!

Here are a couple of other tips based upon my observations on this one day:

• Don't forget to dig through bins and boxes (if you're invited to do so!) - only one or two customers bothered to dig in my friend's bin of t-shirts, etc. I personally don't like having to squat down and dig, but it's good to remember that very few people actually do this - so it's to your advantage if you do! (Tip to sellers: don't make people dig in bins! 95% of them won't be bothered!)
• Don't eschew one booth because their prices are much higher than the next - look at each item and consider it based on its own merits and cost. You might miss something that costs 5 Fr. more that is a much better deal than something 'günstiger'! Maybe it's wise to choose Brocki's and shops in this manner, but I suspect it's unwise to just skip a table altogether. With a small selection, like at a flea-market, you should look for WHAT you're interested in and what it costs, not 'where stuff is cheapest'. There's just not going to be enough items on offer to make the 'cheapest booth' option a rational one!
• Don't assume that the clothing at a particular booth is all the same size. While much of it might be the same size as the previous owner (possibly the seller), I can say that my friend's booth had quite a few other size options as well as her own in the mix. I saw a couple of rude ladies wave a dismissive hand at the rack and say, "Alles zu grosse!", when, in fact, they were quite wrong! Most would have been too big, but there were some petite garments in there as well.
• Be POLITE and NICE to the vendors! They have to stand there, all day, dealing with some really unpleasant people and serious cheapskates trying to undercut their already slim margins: renting a space at this flohmarkt costs something like 20+ Fr.! That means that a 20 Fr. profit is going to make them break even, and probably they'll require 30 or 35 Fr. to truly break even when you take into account fuel prices, parking fees and coffee! (It makes me rethink the idea of ever renting a table of my own! Urgh!). Customers who said "Good Morning" (in any language) and smiled were far more likely to receive the seller's full attention and assistance, and even their recommendations for similar or related items that may not have been on display. Also, I would suggest that these people were more likely to get a small discount (though my friend makes a point of not doing that often - like I said, the margins are razor thin!). So be nice and pleasant and you'll have a better time of it, potentially in multiple aspects!
• BYOB (bring your own bag). Many sellers don't have a glut of plastic bags at their disposal.
• Ask the vendor directly if you're looking for something in particular. Or ask if there's anything in your size (for clothing). You can save a lot of time, and you might just happen to be asking for something they have but didn't bring that day.
• Don't go with the idea that you're looking for 1 to 2 Fr. price tags only. You can, but you'll be walking away with the 'junk' for the most part! Expect to pay some money, and think about the RETAIL price - even if it's relatively 'expensive', it might still be 40-50% less than you could buy it from the store. Don't miss out on good buys that are in the 10-40 Fr. range just because there are lots of tchotchkes for 2 Fr.! No one needs more tchotchkes, no matter how cheap they are!

I also noticed that many of the vendors were also buyers from their compatriot's tables. ;) Which suggests that they're avid thrifters too, and, that they think the other vendors are selling something of value. So if ever you were tempted to write off the vendors as 'rip-off artists', be assured that this isn't the case (or they'd be wise to the scheme and wouldn't be shopping at the flohmarkt!).
 
I actually haven't been (properly) to any other flohmarkts in Zürich yet, with the exception of a quick spin through the one at Bürkiplatz last fall. But I'll try my best to visit them and give a post on the ones I see. With a little more experience, perhaps I can give some more useful 'comparative' information!

'til next time,

TiZ