Orange County Market Place: The Premier Swap Meet of Southern California

As a child, I grew up visiting "flea markets" in the deep South. These were distant memories, fond but somewhat humid (imagine walking through giant tents in humid weather of the South) in my mind. However, I love a good bargain and do not mind a little haggling. Shopping in Tijuana, Beijing and Jerusalem are just some of the fun experiences I have had with bargain shopping and haggling in marketplaces. Thus, it was with much excitement that I and several friends went to the Orange County Market Place in Costa Mesa, California, in July, eager to find awesome deals on all kinds of goods.

Claiming to be "created for entrepreneurial opportunities for Orange County", the Market Place has been in operation since 1969. It currently is held on the large Orange County Fairgrounds, and operates Saturday and Sunday, from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Supposedly there are nearly 1100 merchants and almost 4 miles of walking aisles. It's certainly a big event, and draws over 2 million visitors each year.

After a pit stop for lunch, we arrived at the Market Place around 1 PM. In the future, I would try to arrive earlier, as we found that sellers start putting their stuff away around 2:30-3:00 pm, due to lighter crowds. The rules of the Market Place force sellers to stay there until the 4:00 pm closing deadline, but sellers will take everything down then leave at exactly 4:00 pm. Still, we were able to browse 60% of the shops, and did find one big advantage of coming later in the day-the prices drop as sellers are eager to sell their merchandise quickly, especially for the food and produce! Thus, the food prices were really spectacular!

The Market Place seems to have a lot of items, but most of them fall into one of the following categories: food, clothing (sometimes clones, but mostly overpriced stuff), art, and dollar store-style stuff. My favorite is the dollar store-style stuff, all very cheap, all mostly made in China, but with a huge selection. I was able to score some battery packs of the tiny batteries used in watches and mini flashlights for a $1 each, compared to the $3-$4 I would pay for them back home. My friends loaded up on the food for cheap (jumbo avocados for $0.99 at the end of the day) and on Chinese wooden/paper umbrella's with painted designs on them ($4).

There's a lot of junk at the Market Place but also a lot of good stuff mixed in. The trick is to know what to pass by and what to stop and shop for. It's a really fun place to go and shop with friends, far more interesting (in my opinion) than a mall or amusement park. There is an admission fee here, at $2 a person (children under the age of 12 are free) and parking is free. We didn't have any problems finding a spot, given the immense size of the OC Fairgrounds parking lot.

Stop by and give the Market Place an afternoon or morning on a free weekend if you get the change. It's a great place to find some bargains, just bring your walking shoes and good bottle of sunscreen!