Eisenhauer Market — Local services in San Antonio

We rented a booth here for a few months. And these are my personal experiences. Maybe others have had a different experience.

The people in the office, the maintenance workers and the snack bar people are nice enough. Offering everything to help you. Even so far as to say their maintenance people MUST hang your signs, until rent was paid and we were moved in. Then we were told to just hang it ourselves. The rent was reasonable, I suppose, when it would basically add up to renting a spot at a different flea market every weekend for a month.

The building is in much need of repair. When it rains, they move the trash cans to catch the leaks from the roof. The light bulbs were out for 3 months over our booth, so we were in a dark cave. It smells like male cat pee, sewage, or mold most of the time, but the bathroom smells like weed. I don't know if the a/c does not work, or if they just don't have it on. It was hot most of the time in our part, but noticed it was cold in others

There is no foot traffic. Most people walking around have shops there. Even advertising, I could not get people to come there. It apparently has gotten a bad reputation, and I can see why.

The flea market does have bands come almost every weekend. It does bring people in - TO THE BAR. It does not help the vendors. You can hear the people saying to each other, "No I don't want that.. I am saving my money is for beer." "No, I'm going to the snack bar". So, I guess the bar and snack bars profit from it.

They now have vendors in the parking lot in the front, which seems to bring more people in - to the PARKING LOT. They don't come inside. Why would they? They can just look in the front and leave. Maybe it might help if they would move it to the back where the customers would have to walk thru the building to get to the vendors outside.

The bums come in to get out of the weather and try to sell you stuff they probably stole from anther vendor. They sleep on the tables in the front at night. And you have to watch your stuff like a hawk because of the thieves that come thru there.

Most of the people that come thru are just plain nasty and rude. I literally had people pick up an item, ask how much, and then THROW it back down at me, on more than one occasion. And for some reason, when people pick something up to look at it, they try their best to break it. LITERALLY TRY TO BREAK IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. Even with "Please don't touch - fragile" signs, people still couldn't keep their hand off. People would walk by and jack with stuff, screw it up and haul butt.

My husband had a guy ask him for a cigarette outside, and my husband said sorry he didn't have anymore, but the man followed him inside to the booth yelling that he was racist and physically threatening him because he wouldn't give him a cigarette. Think the guy was on crack or something!

And, if that wasn't enough, the other vendors there are just as mean. There are some real desperate people there. They tell customers to not go to your booth and that their products are "exactly the same" as what your selling, but cheaper, when all they have is china counterfeits, and trying to say it is the same as authentic name brands.

Other vendors blare music so loud it will give you a headache. It was so loud, they would be yelling at their customers outside of their stores because they couldn't hear each other. Awesome.

I tried getting signs made the shop, from a vendor there, and the vendor just couldn't seem to give me a price. It seems like none of the other vendors want new vendors to move in, I guess because the are so desperate for money, they are afraid you are gonna sell something. :/

So, if you are thinking of opening a shop there, I would say it is not worth it. Unless you just like to pay rent out of your own pocket and fight with people.

If you are looking to go flea marketing, I would say there are a lot of better places to go. Bussey's or Mission. Don't waste your time here.

If you are looking for some free live TEJANO music at a bar - this may...

I walked in with my fiancé and immediately stopped by this small record shop. It was a small little crowded hallway with some great gems available! I didn’t get the shop owners name or anything but he mentioned that his dad had owned the place before him. Anyway, I picked out two Vinyl records and asked him how much he would charge and he quoted me 10$ flat, which was a fair deal. I went to the nearest ATM and took out some money and I handed him a 20$ bill and waited for change for maybe about 3 seconds and he just takes the bill and shoved it in his pocket and goes “okay thanks, have a great day” and I was a little stunned and felt too bad to say anything. I’m sure he doesn’t make very much money running his shop and he probably spends more on the rental than he makes in profit, so He probably really needed it. But it was really dishonest and just sat wrong with me all day. I felt like I could have afforded the 20, but not everyone can so be aware and speak up. I’m not sure if he thought that I didn’t know what bill I gave him, but he put it away very quickly and it was a strange interaction. Overall I’ve been coming here with family for years and it’s stayed the same since I was a little girl. The memories are awesome, the shops are incredibly vast and offer plenty of different experiences and people grind hard to make a living here. I don’t mind supporting honest workers, truly I don’t. And my review is NOT to say that this whole place is shady and everyone is dishonest because they are not. Everyone else I saw was pretty friendly and they all exist within their own community of vendors, just be diligent and enjoy the nostalgic air this place has. It’s truly...

Wow!!!! This is my best review by far for 2018. I would like to thank all vendors personally.

3 Tees Custom T-Shirts, was so helpful in our selection. When she could not help us with an specific t-shirt item she referred us to another vendor who could help us. Now that is customer service. We bought a plain t-shirt and she also gave us a free stainless steel 20oz cup. Thanks. Big shout out to you.

Peace Custom Made Jewelry, ETC, had awsome 50%off jewelry and you get a free gift on purchasing anything over $20. Wow.

The Elvis picture was originally $25.00 but she went down on the price. I ended up paying $20.00. She was an oriental lady with all kinds of pictures and wall accents.

The sun glasses was at another shop in the corner of the plaza and I got them for $1.00. Yep you heard me no typo. $1. He was speaking in a heavy African accent. Thank you.

The barber shop in the plaza was also well maintained and clean. The prices of custom cuts are reasonable.

Davey Moreno customed sprayed a shirt for a friend and was $25.00. He did a awsome job and the meaning of the shirt was unforgettable. He also gave us a $5.00 discount.

Overall this is by far the best experience of the 2018 reviews. This deserve as 10+ rating...