Old Time Flea Market — Local services in Farmington

First the good, it's reasonably clean, well staffed, and you can use electronic forms of payment.

The bad is two fold, women are not allowed to bring in bags at all. They either have a theft problem, or the people filling the booths there can't remember what they did or didn't bring. Regardless, that's not a very welcoming atmosphere and starts the whole experience off on a bad foot.

The real problem would be the prices. Which are neither the owners nor employees faults and are completely insane. Casually browsing through the store I found multiple items on offer, used, and priced 25% to 100% above what the same item is available for new on Amazon. And by multiple items I mean most of what I picked up and looked at.

Which is sort of a problem in and of itself, lots of the stuff there is readily available on Amazon, we aren't dealing with antiquities and unusual items here, lots of it feels like a Walmart from two years ago got dumped in the store.

Due to the prices overall I can't really recommend stopping here at all. It just isn't worth the time...

I pains me to post such a negative review because this used to be one of my favorite malls. They used to have a great selection of antiques and vintage goods but now is dominated by “new” junk and high prices.

To top it off, they have a sign on the door that reads “masks required”. Simple right? If you wish to patronize this establishment you must wear a mask. Ironically, I saw 7 customers (while I was there for a short time) and 2 with no mask. Not too bad for rural MO where no mask is the norm. But...3 of the 4 employees did NOT have a mask. I started to browse around and ignore this fact but could not.

I spoke to the ladies at the counter. I pointed the sign out and the fact 3 of the 4 of them did not have a mask, they all just stared at me not knowing what to say. One young lady got angry (her face was flushed) and said “have a good day”. I left.

I understand how mask wearing is politicized but when a business mandates wearing one, you should not shop there if you are so opposed. And certainly employee should follow...

It's huge! Labyrinthine, even! We had a blast going through all the display sections, going through knickknacks, used books, CDs, DVDs, toys, and more. Be prepared to spend a while just checking everything out. Actually getting to the store is a bit more complicated than it might look on the map, because while it looks like it's just off the highway, the direct access is cut off, and you'll have to go around a little maze of back roads from Farmington to actually reach it. (I'm guessing that's why all these stores formerly accessible from the highway, now cut off from an EXPRESSWAY, have been turned into flea markets and such.) Friendly staff, and lots of bargains - easily worth the trouble of visiting maybe 8-10...