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FEATURE : One person’s junk is another person’s treasure

Stall owners work at the bazaar and flea market located in Taipei City’s Tianmu area on Wednesday last week. Business is booming at the bazaar and flea market, which has proven resilient despite a sluggish economy. PHOTO: CNA

The “for lease” signs springing up on business premises around the country are evidence of how hard enterprises have been hit by the economic downturn. However, the recession has created an opening for at least one group of entrepreneurs in Taipei City.

At two flea markets in Taipei, vendors have seen a boom in sales in the last few months.

One of the markets is located in the Tianmu (天母) area, which is better known as an enclave for expatriates and the heart of the foreign diplomatic community in Taiwan, rather than a venue for secondhand street bazaars.

Located near Shilin District’s (士林) borders with the Beitou (北投) hot spring area and Yangmingshan National Park, Tianmu for years has been a community of exotic shops, upscale department stores and Western restaurants. But in recent years, businesses have been moving out of Tianmu to newer commercial areas such as Xinyi District (信義) in downtown Taipei.

Tianmu’s response was to embrace a different kind of business — one that now has the area bustling on weekends.

“It is never about money. The main idea is to be environmentally friendly and make the best use of everything ... Second-hand goods gain fresh value when they are sold to new owners ... What’s even better is that I get to know all these cool people. This is very good life experience.” — Huang Shen-chieh, bartender and part-time vendor at the Tianmu bazaar

The Tianmu Marketplace Development Association (TMDA) in July 2007 set up what it called a creative bazaar, and last June it opened a flea market.

“When Tianmu began to lose its popularity a few years ago, we brainstormed on how to return it to the limelight and attract people from other districts in Taipei,” TMDA chairwoman Tang Di (唐笛) said.

Tang and her associates planned a creative bazaar that would give young people an opportunity to showcase their ideas and start their own businesses, and a flea market that would offer the unemployed a chance to make a new start.

Today, the outdoor bazaar and flea market, jointly dubbed “Weekend Tianmu — We Can,” have turned into a treasure trove for local residents and a tourist attraction for backpackers from Hong Kong and Japan, Tang said.

Since the bazaar and flea market opened at the intersection of Zhongshan North Road and Tianmu East Road, other stalls and shops close by have seen a 30 percent to 50 percent growth in business, Tang said.

An average of 30,000 to 50,000 people flock there every weekend, some to buy and others to browse, she said. Added to the mix are a number of street performers that liven up the scene.

Huang Shen-chieh, a bartender and part-time vendor at the Tianmu bazaar, said he began selling second-hand clothes and shoes there after he and his brother were forced to close their organic food store.

The weekend flea market and bazaar started out as a fun event for him, Huang said, adding that it was also a way of exercising his social responsibility.

“It is never about money. The main idea is to be environmentally friendly and make the best use of everything,” he said as he collected NT$10 from a customer who had picked out a white tank top.

“Second-hand goods gain fresh value when they are sold to new owners,” he said. “What’s even better is that I get to know all these cool people. This is very good life experience.”

Registration for a spot at the bazaar is open every Monday and the fee ranges from NT$100 to NT$200, although sometimes there are free places for the underprivileged, Tang said. However, it takes some luck to get a spot because there are usually about 500 people registering for just 200 places that are available at the market between Friday and Sunday, she said.

Enthusiasm for second-hand goods is also evident at the Yongchun Traditional Market in Songshan District (松山), where the second floor is dedicated to a weekend flea market.

Huang Hsiu-yu (黃秀玉), chairwoman of the Yongchun Traditional Market Association, said the space was empty for three years before she came up with the idea in October 2007 to open a flea market there.

It has since grown from five to 180 vendors per week, with many more applicants on the waiting list, she said. The number of vendors has increased to full capacity since the economic downturn hit last autumn, she said.

“For NT$200 a day, anyone can have his or her own business,” she said.

The Yongchun Flea Market, which sells mainly second-hand clothes, shoes, household items, used books, body products and accessories, is the only indoor bazaar in Taiwan and it attracts thousands of people every weekend, Huang Hsiu-yu said.

“When the economy is bad, more people go to flea markets to save money,” she said. “They will not buy anything unless it is a good deal.”

Celine Hu, a tour guide and manager of a travel agency, has been a vendor at the Yongchun flea market for 18 months. She says she sells her bags and clothes, mostly new, at 50 percent to 60 percent off of the original price.

Hu said that although the flea market venture was a hobby and not her primary source of income, she has striven to provide a good service.

“Everything, even if second-hand, can still be of value to someone,” Hu said. “I want to show the best of what I have and satisfy my customers because I take this part-time work seriously.”

A postgraduate student surnamed Chen (陳) who bought a second-hand Louis Vuitton bag at the market for NT$2,000, agreed that “one person’s junk is another person’s treasure.”
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