[gallery columns="3" ids="10675,10676,10677,10678"] By Gracie Fairfax | Echo
It's a hipster's paradise and a history junkie's hideaway. Looking for an old record, a bowl with a beaver on it or a unique lamp to illuminate your living room? Mick's Flea Market may have just the thing.
Mick Hamilton opened the doors of Mick's Flea Market in November 1993. While he's always had an interest in flea markets, he's never been much of a collector himself. He prefers the art of buying and finding things for other people.
But the process of finding collectibles isn't a solo effort. Hamilton collaborates with 25 dealers who bring in items from sources such as estate sales and garage sales from Kokomo to Upland and everywhere in between. A few items have even come from Taylor University.
In the center of the store, by the register, is a table and a TV. When they bring in new items, dealers often take a seat at the table, watch the news and chat with Hamilton as if in their own living room.
One dealer, Jay Alsip, comes in frequently with his granddaughter and daughter, Trish Turner, owner of the nearby business Trinkets and Treasures.
For Alsip, collecting is a family affair. Alsip's four brothers are also in the business, a love that originated with their parents. Alsip especially finds interest in glass Ball Mason jars.
Most dealers' involvement in the business is accidental. It may begin with picking up items for a friend who collects a particular item. As they accumulate items over the years, dealers may find that they need an outlet to sell the excess.
Each dealer has a particular focus, but will sometimes buy items that are not their usual. Oftentimes dealers trade with each other if they find a good price on another dealer's specialty.
When dealers come to Mick's Flea Market, they simply rent out open floor space. Although all items are sold through the cashier, dealers take 100 percent of the profits. Each item is tagged with a booth number, description and price.
Phil Marx, Hamilton's cashier, who is newer to the flea market business, happened into the flea market business four years ago.
"I needed some work at the same time that Mick needed somebody and my family knew him," Marx said.
Since joining Mick's Flea Market, Marx picked up on the ins and outs of the business from customers and dealers, though he is not a dealer himself.
Customers- young and old-come through the market, including students from Indiana Wesleyan and Taylor University. Between the number of customers who collect hundreds of a particular item and the dealers and friends who come through the market, Marx often jokes with Hamilton about the possibility of a sitcom or reality show based on the market happenings.
"Yesterday a guy came in and looked for something with a beaver on it," Marx said. "We don't have a beaver section. People are like 'Don't you know everything that's here?' Well you can't know every single thing. It could be a play, it could be a shirt, it could be a little stuffed animal."
Marx remembers one woman who stopped by periodically for pig-related items.
"We call her the pig lady," Hamilton said. "She's got hundreds and hundreds of pigs."
Hamilton knows his customers, and after the "pig lady" came into the store several times, Hamilton created a "pig section," as he and Marx call it.
Another customer finds a particular interest in M&M collectibles.
"He just loves M&M stuff. I don't know where he puts it all," Hamilton said.
Each customer comes into the store on a different mission and has various interests. Marx is fascinated by the number of experts on very narrow subjects, such as Precious Moments dolls or Longaberger baskets.
"Dealers that have dealt for a long time, they can be driving by and just glance over at a yard sale and tell you whether it's worth stopping for," Marx said. "They're driving along and (think) 'that's the real deal, I'm gonna stop there.'"
Like any customer, Marx and Hamilton have particular interests themselves. Hamilton particularly enjoys musical instruments, while Marx loves history.
Marx collects globes and likes anything relating to history or politics. He enjoys old books and magazines that pre-date World War II. He enjoys flipping to the readers' comments in those in particular and seeing what they had to say about current events.
"You realize that these people are speculating about what's going to come in the next five to 10 years. Some of them are sure there's going to be a big world war, and we're going to get drawn into it no matter what. Some of them are talking about isolation, but the fact is that none of them really knew," Marx said.
Mick's Flea market is open seven days a week. It is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. So the next time you find yourself heading to Gas City or Marion in search of something unique, make a note to stop at Mick's Flea Market, where you can take a step back into history and maybe even find yourself something with a beaver on it.
