Fleamarket (Flohmärkte!) Season Begins

I'm just going to state it outright - I almost totally forgot to take photos of my thrift-capades yesterday, which is all the more annoying because, as you may have reasoned, I don't get the chance to thrift much these days. Bugger.

Anyhoo, here's what I did and where I went (and subsequently what next Saturday you can go and do, if so enticed)!

Doris's stand at the Dietikon Flohmarkt

My friend (Doris, usually wearing a hat and something bright in the purple to orange spectrum of hues! Say hi if you go! She speaks English!) was at the Dietikon Flohmarkt as she usually is on Saturdays, and I went in as something of a pinch-hitter for her when she needed a break for lunch, et cetera.

I managed to snap two photos (Doris not pictured - the lady seen is a pal) right before I helped her dismantle everything for the day, before the slated end at 16:00 (it was cloudy cold and threatened drizzle - most people stayed home).

While hanging about in the Bahnhofplatz, I also went to Lucky Store.

I've blogged about Lucky Store before, and now I have new reason to mention it. The proprietor (Ruth) is a good buddy of another one of my acquaintances in my neighbourhood (dare I say friend, since we now have a scheme to go on a thrifting einkaufsbummel together! Kindred Spirit indeed!).

I spent 24.50 there on two cute tops (all clothing washed by Ruth before sale), a large platter (my other thrifted one bit the dust over Christmas, alas), a couple of vintage pillowcases (for the fabric), and a towel and two washcloths (vintage wonderfulness). The platter cost 10., which was by far the costliest thing but a fair and good price for a huge and sturdy, scratch and chip-free platter.

I hope Ruth's business card suffices. Didn't even occur to me to take photos of the shop for the blog, urgh!

I really like the randomness and the size of the store, and how she groups things into window displays. What I don't like is the closeness of the shop (seeing as it's quite stuffed full, though nothing on the order of the Nassacker Brocki in Schlieren), and the limited sidewalk space at the front door (I felt strange perusing the racks with my back up against busy traffic, and sharing the limited area with people waiting to cross the road there).


HIGHLIGHTS AT RUTH'S LUCKY STORE YESTERDAY THAT I DIDN'T BUY:

- sexy leather-trimmed black stockings and an assortment of silken bustiers

- an African-oriented window display with cute cast ornaments and wooden masks (and an adorable foulard with African fauna)

- two Wonder-Woman t-shirts on the racks outside (fitting, seeing as she makes an appearance, or so I'm told, in the Batman vs. Superman movie in theatres at the moment)

- more belts than you could shake a stick at, from the 80s and onwards

- a vintage never-worn wedding dress, which is hard to place era-wise but was actually rather cool

- enough leather jackets, rock t-shirts and a pair of red leather pants to outfit a small motorcycle gang

- very, very vintage dresses and things approaching jumpsuit status from the 80s (not for me, but someone could certainly pull them off, and well!)

 
But one of the big pluses is that it's open on Saturday, at the same time of the Dietikon Flohmarkt.

SATURDAY, MAY 7TH: The Spring Market in Dietikon (flea and 'fresh' alike!).

I'm not a huge fan of the Flohmarkt at Dietikon (or any fleamarkets, really - I don't enjoy haggling), and I've yet to visit the ones in Helvetiaplatz and Bürkliplatz (because they start and end too early for me!). I can't say that I wholeheartedly recommend the Dietikon Flohmarkt as a stand-alone destination, but I can recommend the following:

A Saturday Thriftcapade in Dietikon:

- Dietikon Flohmarkt ab 08:00 Uhr am Bahnhofplatz
- Ruth's Lucky Store, Krönenplatz (where the main drag of Zurcherstrasse becomes Zentralstrasse before becoming Badenerstrasse at the Reppisch river)... across the street from the Migros building at Löwenzentrum and also across from the Asia Store 
- There's a little ANTIQUES SHOP in Krönenplatz run by a very nice lady that has lovely things (note: Antiques, not a Brocki). Not sure if she's open on Saturdays, but it's just  tucked in behind the Lucky Store along the Krönenplatz web of alleys and is a very short walk into the ancient courtyard behind the Zur Kröne restaurant.

and then a choice of: 

- Limmattal Brocki in Silbern (conveniently located near the COOP City Silbern, the Esprit Outlet and pet, baby and electronics warehouse stores... good enticement for dragging a non-Thrifter along with you? My partner loves the giant Mediamarkt there. I could drop him off and let him play MarioKart while I shopped across the street!).  

and/or:

- Brockiland Fahrweid, across the river from the Bahnhof (a longish walk - can take a bus 3 stops nearer to it from the Bahnhof. Closest bus stop is Limmatbrücke (buses 301 (richtung: Oetwil a. d. Limmat), 302 (Urdorf, I think), 304 (Zürich Altstetten Nord)). If you're a fan of the downtown one, you need to compare and contrast the Fahrweid location which, while not better per se, is the one I prefer solely for the reduced number of customers in it at any given point.

Those turquoise bowls on Doris's table found a new home at my place, where they were pictured last night holding accoutrements to Tortilla Soup at dinner. ;) Doris was selling them at 3 Fr. each, 9 Fr. for the set. Again, another reason why I dislike fleamarkets - these would be cheaper at Brockiland or Lucky Store (most probably because either of those places don't have to sell a certain (large!) amount each day to offset the cost of renting the space from the city). And I wouldn't have to talk to anyone to buy them, either (maybe the biggest consideration, ha!).

'Til next time, Thrifters! :)

TiZ