The San Jose Flea Market — Attraction in San Jose

PARKING: I get here early so I don't have to walk far.  If you get here in the afternoon on a weekend, anticipate a hike to the front entrance.

This place is one big "garage sale!"  Seriously, if you arrive here when it first opens and go to your left, you will see everyone empting their trucks of all the "crap they hoarded over the years" and then try and sell them to you like it's new!  The right side is more newer "knock-off" brands.  There are also tons of random trinkets and other assortment of everyday items to purchase at cheap prices.

I'm always amused to see everyone always dressed up at this place.  "Why the heck are people dressed up?  This is a flea market, not the casino!"

I also read that someone met his wife here, "I guess he got her for a bargain!"

CLOTHES: This place absolutely sells some funky looking clothes which is evident by just looking at the people walking around this place.  There's a lot of clothes to choose from and if it was me, I would buy from the vender side and not from the "garage sale" part of the market.  Besides, would you wear used underwear?  "Yaaaa, no thanks!"

HAGGLING: First and foremost, I don't come here dressed up, it sends a bad impression.  I'm not here looking for a "date," I'm here to get good deals so I dress in my old clothes but not too shabby, I don't want to be kicked out of a Flea Market!  You can get some pretty good deals and as a rule, I never pay what they're asking for.  If it's $5.00, I say $4.00.  If they say no, I start to walk away or show them that I'm only carrying $4.00.  This works most of the time and most venders want to sell their stuff.  When you come here, only buy in "cash!"  I wouldn't use my credit card here, you never know what goes on behind closed doors or in this case, curtain, van, cubicle, you get the picture.  If you run out of cash they do have ATM's but they charge a fee!

ISLES: TIP; don't come during the week days like I did on one occasion.  A lot of the booths were closed and I'm thinking, "where is everyone, at their day jobs?"  Other than that, the isles are long and if you're a little person, good luck!  I would definitely rent one of those electric chairs to get around, besides you're sitting the whole time!  Before I even start walking, I bring my water bottle, especially on those hot days because after an isle or two you will get thirsty.  I also bring a back pack for all the little things you might want to get.

FOOD:  You definitely won't go hungry here because it's also one big restaurant where everywhere you go there's something to eat or munch on.  For you drinkers, they have the "beer cart" which drives around filling your cup and don't ask questions regarding how many you had.  I know that for a fact, because I've seen many a "tipsy" customer stumbling around looking for that beer cart to return!  You can sit down for lunch or whatever and listen to a live Mariachi band or just watch other people watching you eat!

GROCERY: In the middle of this huge place is an "open air" grocery called "Produce Lane" where you can buy fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables, and homemade items.  You can get some really good deals on produce but I've also seen that some of their items were higher than at the grocery store.

CROWD: I've never seen so many Asians, Latinos, and other mixed cultures in one place than here.  It gets packed, especially on the weekends, but that's also when all of the booths are open.

OVERALL: People knock this place because it's dirty or crowded or has cheap stuff but I say, HELLOOO, where the hell do you think your at?  Not Nordstrom...!"  "This is a Flea Market."  Stop complaining.  "It's a great place to kill a Saturday afternoon and who knows, you might actually find something...."  If you look hard enough, you will find some pretty good bargains.  Although, I have seen a few items that looked "hot!"  The restrooms here are surprisingly very clean and I always see someone inside maintaining them.

This place has everything under the sun,...

I never used to go to flea markets until just recently and I LOVE them. Do be cautious buying certain things. My sister and I were here 3/13/21 and she purchased what was supposed to be a king sized blanket from a vendor on the edge of the flea market, he was next to a corner stand, has lots of pretty blankets, a sunflower one that I have seen twice now at his stand.. this person first tried selling us a blanket at a steal on my first visit for $45 but upon our return yesterday we saw that the blankets are sold for $30. The king size blanket my sister got ended up being a queen. The stand has a black guy and 2 different middle Eastern men, BUYER BEWARE. This flea market has everything and the vendors and friendly, lots of options. I ended up spending over $100 mostly on beautiful $10 dresses. I tried balut, some delicious conchas filled with custard and arroz con leche from RICARMI (a must try!! I will forever stop for their goodies when coming here). I wish I could leave Ricarmi a review but they are not on yelp or Google so I'm doing it here. I expected either the concha or stuffing to be good and figured the other might be lacking a bit but NO! The conchas are soft, perfectly sweet, the stuffing (both the arroz con leche and vanilla custard) are delicious, you can taste the cinnamon in the arroz con leche. The concha topping doesn't fall apart when you bite into your concha, both times i have stopped here the staff is in great spirits, very helpful, friendly, inviting, just another reason to keep coming back! Don't leave the flea market without stopping by this delicious stand. They also have chocolate covered strawberries, a cup of 3 big fresas for just $4! My niece got a few of the macarons, they were so good. Not a single item that we have tried here has been anything but 10/10. You can come here to shop, farmers market style, callejones style or just to eat and drink while...

Not really what we were expecting. There are a lot of professional sellers here that have what looks like permanent shops set up under storage units. When I go to a flea market I am expecting to see more used and antique items for sale, but that was just not the case. Also, this place has no diversity at all which can be a bit of a shock if you are used to shopping at the malls or shops surrounding this area. Make sure to brush up on your Spanish speaking skills before you visit. This place reminds me of some of the large outdoor markets that I've been to in Sounth America, just take all the hand made goods and replace them with brand new goods that you could easily find at a local wal-mart. Many of my coworkers that have grown up in San Jose say that the flea market was much nicer 10 years ago. None of the people that I work with go to the San Jose flea market any more. This is a place to at least visit once if you live in San Jose just to be able to say that you've been here. Maybe it is better on a different day, I went on Sunday in the afternoon. Entry is very cheap and is not more than...