Flea ting markets commodities, consumption and value in a flea market in singapore

Notwithstanding the ubiquitous existence of shopping malls, department stores, supermarkets and flagship stores of major transnational brand-name products along the much-promoted Orchard

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Chapter 1: Introduction—Reclaiming the Informal and the Things

Within 1.1: Modernity and Shopping Malls

The advent of modernity seems to have brought about a significant rise in formal retail and consumption spaces, such as shopping malls, in urban areas throughout the world, and with it an array of distinct consumption practices that appear to be tied

intricately with what appears to be rapid economic development and resultant changes in class structure and identity Like most urban centers which pride themselves as ‗modern‘, the nation-state of Singapore, in its endless bid to portray an image of a global city, has attempted to brand itself as the ―Fashion Shopping Capital of Asia‖ and ―one of the world‘s greatest shopping streets‖, by systematically and consistently promoting1

dozens

of glitzy malls along its Orchard Road shopping belt (Singapore Tourism Board, 2010) It has been argued that rationality, often considered a characteristic and consequence of such modernity, has influenced both production as well as consumption practices to be increasingly subjected to ―McDonaldization‖, placing a heavy emphasis on ―efficiency, predictability, calculability and control by non-human technology‖, as evidenced by the popularity of supermarkets and department stores (Ritzer, 1993) This equation of

‗modernity‘ with shopping malls and department stores is also an unequivocal one in much of social science, having been described as ―dream places‖ and ―cathedrals of (contemporary) consumption‖ (Williams, 1982; Ferguson, 1992 from Chua, 2003)

1 Under its ‗Tourism Shopping and Dining‘ department, The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has a ‗fashion‘ team that engages in ―strategic partnerships with the fashion retail industry and other divisions to optimise tourist

spending and augment their shopping experience‖ and a retail team dedicated to ―the tourism shopping landscape and works closely with several strategic partners including the Orchard Road Business Association (ORBA), the Singapore Retailers Association ( SRA), The Association of Shopping Centres (TASC) and Central Refund

Agencies (Global Refund and Premier Tax Free)‖ (Singapore Tourism Board, 2010)

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The logic of economism and rationality seem to prevail in this very ‗modern‘ nation state, where city planning authorities and the Singapore Tourism Board have worked hard

to ensure that the retail experience in Singapore measures up to the expectations of the

‗global‘ and ‗cosmopolitan‘ consumer The consumption patterns of commodities sold in these retail spaces have also been described to be increasingly ―cosmopolitan‖ as

Singapore is fitted ever more tightly into the global marketing strategies of goods (Chua, 2003: 15) Having always been seen as a ‗modern‘ city, Singapore‘s evolution into a world city ―is but its logical unfolding as a modern space‖, with the proliferation of shopping centers serving as the hallmark of its equally ‗modern‘ consumption culture (ibid: 18) Chua also notes how according to sociologist Mike Featherstone (1998), the saturation of shopping malls has caused overbuilding in Singapore, such that ―walking through the heart of Singapore is like walking through a series of large shopping centers‖ (from Chua, 2003: 41) Recognizing the significant role of shopping malls and

department stores in Singapore‘s consumption culture, Chua has conducted a detailed ethnography of Takashimaya, a popular Japanese-owned department store located within the Ngee Ann City shopping mall located along Orchard Road It would seem then, that the consumption culture in the very ‗modern‘ city-state of Singapore has been informed and shaped considerably by such forces that have pushed it to market itself as ‗global‘ in its provision and consumption of retail experiences

1.2: Street Markets—Vestiges of a ‘Pre-modern’ Past?

By extension, then, the converse was thought to be true of seemingly less structured and ordered forms of retail and consumption practices Cross and Morales

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have noted that with the growth of the ―modernist system‖ of economic management, mass markets were required to meet the supply of goods mass production in factories produced, resulting in ―total‖, massive changes in business organization and market systems, impacting ―the very culture and social life of individuals, families and

communities‖ (2007: 3) Despite economic modernism being an almost ―total system‖ that required every aspect of society to be ―molded according to its requirements‖ of optimal efficiency and productivity, modernists lamented the continued, albeit

diminished, presence of types of commerce that were thought to threaten economic

‗development‘ and ‗growth‘ (ibid) Street markets were one such form of economic activity that was regarded with disdain by analysts as ―irrational‖ remnants of ‗pre-

modern‘ life presumably associated with what was often conceived as ‗less developed‘ economies of impoverished societies Elements of such ‗pre-modernity‘ are often

regarded as not only antithetical and detrimental to the growth of modern economic systems, but also ill-fitted for urban environments (ibid: 4) Attempts to rid of the urban

‗chaos‘ caused by street hawkers were meticulously carried out by city-planning

authorities in twentieth-century Singapore (Yeoh, 1996: 243-280) Street hawkers and markets were deemed unhygienic and disorganized, and thus an obstruction to public order and health Dewar and Watson (1990: 93) note that authorities in Singapore had a

‗three phase‘ policy for the removal of street trading:

The first phase consisted of moving street traders from main streets to back streets and alleys and providing basic market-services for them This phase is complete The second, and current, phase consists of building of nucleated market buildings in both the city centre and the suburbs and moving street traders nto them The first of these markets was built in

1972 and it is estimated that by 1989, all street traders will be re-sited

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Thereafter, in the third phase, authorities will concentrate on policing the new system and ensuring that no further informal markets emerge

Clifford Geertz in his classic study Peddlers and Princes (1963) has also reflected this

modernist strand of sentiment He concurred that street markets and bazaars were

vestiges of a romantic past that had little place nor purpose in the ‗modern‘ world order, and argued, from a cultural perspective, that the ‗bazaar economy‘ was irrational as it

―has the disadvantage that it turns even the established businessman away from an

interest in reducing costs and developing markets and toward petty speculation and run opportunism‖ (ibid: 28-29)

short-The ‗pre-modern‘, ―relative disorder of (street) markets and merchants‖ seemed to have little refuge in the modernist ideal of a highly organized and ordered world (ibid) Efforts were made by the authorities in Singapore to minimize and regulate the presence

of hawkers, firstly, by passing laws that required hawkers to be registered and licensed; and secondly, by confining such undesirable, ―fringe economic activities‖ to particular pre-assigned localities, where the municipal surveillance of such economic activity could

be carried out (ibid: 262) Similarly, Cross and Morales have cited urban planning in European cities as examples of how ―the `modernist dream of a model society‖ was played out through architects‘ visions of an ―ideal‖ place where planned structures in urban areas ensured that each individual was assigned to his or her place in life through the physical organization of urban activity (ibid) Thus, in accordance with urban

planners in ‗Western‘ cities in the nineteenth-century, streets, walkways and verandahs in Singapore were seen as spaces built solely for the flow of pedestrian traffic, and were

―areas to move through, not be in‖ (ibid: 268) City planners thus sought their solution for

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such seeming ‗irrationality‘ through banning and over-regulating street vendors, while at the same time ―redesigning urban spaces so that street vending could no longer exist‖ (Cross and Morales, 2007: 7)

1.3: Reclaiming the ‘informal’—The Flea Market

Despite the authorities‘ introduction of stringent rules to regulate the prevalence of street hawkers, vendors, and markets, however, such forms of ‗fringe economic activity‘ did not disappear entirely into history Notwithstanding the ubiquitous existence of shopping malls, department stores, supermarkets and flagship stores of major

transnational brand-name products along the much-promoted Orchard Road shopping belt in Singapore, ‗informal‘ and ‗alternative‘ retail spaces reside alongside2

such

‗formal‘ modes of economic activity, making the retail scene in Singapore an curious mix of densely-packed retail spaces The ‗wet markets‘ and ‗provision shops‘ of the residential heartlands still sustain a significant part of day to day life in Singapore, and have not given way entirely to supermarkets and convenience stores, and there also

almost-continue to exist ‗night markets‘ or pasar malam3

set up along roads winding through

these public housing estates More recently, ‗flea‘ markets 4

have also mushroomed all

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Some night markets, for example, are held right outside ‗brick and mortar‘ shop premises in Housing Development Board estates Recently, however, shop owners in Clementi Central estate have been said to be antagonistic towards night market vendors, as they claim that the competition brought about by lower prices of goods at the night market has caused a drop in their business ―by at least 20 per cent‖ Shop owners have also complained about vendors blocking the walkways outside their shops and obstructing customer traffic (The Sunday Times, November 22, 2009)

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over the island-state Unlike the night markets found in public housing estates, these flea markets are event-based, held over weekends and usually only last for less than a day (about six or seven hours), at locations all over Singapore5 They are also run by a central organizer6 that rents stalls out to interested vendors and promotes these flea market

events through online blogs and websites As these flea markets seem to target and attract youth, they are forming a small but vibrant part of youth and popular culture in Singapore

Thus, while modernist notions of economic activity have relegated street markets, merchants, vendors and hawkers to the sphere of the informal, irrational and hence

undesirable, it has been suggested that the resurgence and continued popularity of such business are, arguably, a condition of ‗postmodernity‘ (Cross and Morales, 2007) As

―reasoned reactions to local manifestations of today‘s economic, cultural, and social world‖, street markets the world over are thought to be flexible adaptations to evolving circumstances and conditions, successfully responding to consumer segmentation and niche markets (ibid: 7) This has also been the case in more ‗developed‘ and ‗progressive‘ economies such as New Zealand (de Bruin and Dupuis in Cross and Morales (eds.), 2007: 245-261), the USA (LaLone, Godoy, Halsall and Matthews, 1993; Maisel, 1974; Miller, 1988; Petrocci, 1981; Sherry, 1990a; 1990b), evidence that street markets have not been eradicated with the onslaught of ‗modernity‘ and ‗rationality‘ Other than the supposed flexibility afforded by ‗informal‘ modes of retail, several other reasons have been cited

for a description of the type of flea markets studied in this paper, vis-à-vis other types of ‗informal‘ retail in

Singapore

5 These locations include night clubs, museums and gentrified areas of Singapore popular with the young and

yuppies, such as Dempsey Hill

6 Examples of these organizers include Flea-tique!, Flea Titan and Flea Fly Flo Fun

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for the resurgence and popularity of the various forms of ‗fringe‘ economic activity in these societies—the ―action scene‖ of the flea market that draws people to it and causes them to return regularly; (Maisel, 1974: 494); allowing urbanites to engage in ―more personal, playful and sensuous forms of shopping‖ (Petrocci, 1981: 163); the

―humanization of the market process‖ through interactions between vendors and shoppers (Miller, 1988: 59); and the ―anti-structure‖ of the market venue, which represent a

resistance to ―advanced capitalism‖ (Sherry, 1990a: 28), to name a few These are all meanings that imbue informal modes of retail with significance found beyond the mere exchange of goods and services with money, according it relevance even with the

onslaught of ‗modernity‘ and ‗rationality‘

1.4: Looking at Things in the Marketplace

This recent ―persistence and reinvigoration‖ of street markets (Cross and Morales, 2007: 8), even in an urban landscape such as Singapore that is saturated with glitzy shopping malls, suggests that economic exchange in the twenty-first century goes beyond the realm of the seemingly ‗rational‘ and meticulously ‗organized‘—it is not a mere

‗efficient‘ exchange of goods and services with money, but is instead intricately

embedded in social interaction, meaning and purpose While the structure of the informal retail settings and social actors involved have been credited to contribute to their success, what Cross and Morales and the other authors in the same volume and elsewhere pay scant attention to, however, is how the role of the goods exchanged in these spaces

contribute to perpetuating and popularizing such forms of economic organization and social interaction For example, Stillerman and Sundt (in Cross and Morales (eds.), 2007:

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180-200), in their study of Santiago‘s7 street and flea market vendors, examine the

informal sector‘s ―flexible networks, enforceable trust and bounded solidarity‖ and how these add value to the sector‘s businesses Similarly, Sherry‘s (1990a) analysis of the socio-cultural significance of the flea market in the American mid-west emphasizes the actor-centered marketplace behaviours and processes, and the way through which these give shape to meanings associated and attached to the flea market What these works have fallen short of considering is how objects of such exchanges may embody, both metaphorically and literally, a significant bulk of the resultant social interaction, meaning and purpose

Another way through which such modes of economic exchange and organization can

be understood is by placing ‗things‘ at the center of inquiry Appadurai‘s seminal work

The Social Life of Things (1986) treats objects as ―living beings‖ leading ―social lives‖

(Ferguson, 1988: 491) Instead of looking at commodities as specific types of things, Appadurai sees commodities as a state of things, a certain situation instead of a fixed and pre-determined category Similarly, Kopytoff, in the same volume, considers the

‗biographical‘ account of things when determining the commodity state of an object For Kopytoff, culture ―ensures that some things remain unambiguously singular, it resists the commoditization of others; and it sometimes resingularizes what has been commoditized (1986: 73) By conceptualizing of the commodity as a phase in the ‗social life‘

(Appadurai, 1986) or ‗cultural biography‘ (Kopytoff, 1986) of a thing, it opens up space for the inquiry into the exchange and circulation of goods in less formal retail settings

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like the flea market The proliferation of the sale of second-hand goods in these

‗alternative‘ retail spaces thus seems to contribute to the ‗rebirth‘ of things as

commodities, challenging notions of a ‗wasteful‘ consumption culture where the

commodity phase of consumption is pronounced dead upon consumption

A study of flea markets cannot, therefore, escape an exploration of the ‗stories‘ the goods it sells have to tell By giving credence to the study of objects and ‗things‘ exchanged at flea markets, in addition to its structures, organization and social actors, my research aims to contribute to existing literature on the study of the ‗informal‘ economy and modes of retail in several ways Firstly, as flea markets are often considered to be part of the informal economy, as opposed to formal retail spaces such as shopping malls, the flexibility afforded to such forms of economic exchange (Cross and Morales, 2007) allows for an ever more intricate look at the social relations and the nature of transactions which stem from the complex movement of objects and things within this conduit As Maisel suggests, flea markets are ‗action scenes‘ within which a plethora of social

interactions, drawing on the informality of the retail set-up, are played out By also

paying attention to the goods being bought and sold in flea markets, we can better gather the extent to which such relations and transactions are commoditized (or not), and how they differ from or similar to those found in more formal retail settings such as shopping malls Secondly, the proliferation of second-hand goods on sale in flea markets,

especially in a supposedly ‗cosmopolitan‘ and affluent society like Singapore, allows for the exploration of the extent of value co-creation and emotional attachment amongst consumers who buy used brand-name goods Thirdly, this sale of second-hand goods in flea markets also allows for a tighter grasp on how certain things may or may not be re-

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commodified and ‗re-born‘ as commodities, and how we can situate within Kopytoff‘s proposed spectrum of ‗singular‘ and ‗commodity‘ Finally, by considering both the consumers‘ and vendors‘ perspectives, the ‗stories‘ the things sold in flea markets have to tell emerges as multi-faceted ones that are intriguing not because of its fixity to one particular ‗life course‘, but because it is rooted in a multiplicity that is complex and nuanced, passing through the hands of both buyers and sellers

Overview of Thesis

This chapter has laid out the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of this study The following chapter (Chapter 2) will highlight its methodological guidelines and premises, and will include details and particularities which are specific to the field site and its participants A brief overview of the retail scene in Singapore will be provided in Chapter 3 to better situate the field site—The Flea—within this context The origins and conceptualization of The Flea will also be explored, providing a more detailed

background of its history Chapter 4 explores how vendors use The Flea as a possible business strategy and how they negotiate tensions surrounding the way they categorize, valuate and subsequently price their goods Chapter 5 documents shopper behavior at the flea market and explores how these behaviors may influence the way these consumers inscribe meanings and attachment into the goods they purchase and consume at the flea market Chapter 6 looks at how vendors and shoppers manage their interactions in the marketplace when bargaining—a distinctive price-setting practice at the flea market—takes place, as well as how judgments of value come into play in these situations Chapter

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7 then concludes by highlighting some significant issues and points that have arisen out

of this study

―provide a rich portrait of the phenomenon‖ that is encountered in dynamic settings like the flea market, where opportune social interactions such as bargaining take place (ibid,

1988: 449) The set of methods proposed by Belk et al include observation, participation,

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and interviews, recorded through a set of detailed field notes, journals, photographs and audio devices, all of which are utilized in the physical confines of the field setting

2.2: Studying a Flea Market in Singapore: A Qualitative Approach

However, although Belk et al emphasize the advantages of an in-situ collection of data as afforded by a naturalistic inquiry (1988: 450), the motivations for doing so do not correspond fully with the objectives of this research and the dynamics of the chosen field site Belk et al were interested primarily in consumer behavior in their study, and given the relatively limited time frame9 of their research, decided to focus on a single

―consumption venue‖ as their chosen field site10

(ibid) The impact of such ephemeral, informal retail spaces and interactions cannot be seen, however, as being limited neither

to the mere physical location of its set-up, nor as devoid of the larger consumption

context from which it arises The interaction that arises from the organization of such alternative conduits of retail, as shall be explained, sometimes extends well beyond those confined to the physical field site, and includes virtual communication as well, which necessitates some consideration of these modes of interaction As with any research endeavor, fieldwork in this setting of the flea market is not without its own set of

challenges Situated in an urban setting, amidst the hustle and bustle of the city-state of Singapore, the idea of a bounded, single-sited field site is but a myth ‗Traditional‘

notions of ethnography give way to one that is, in this case, not only multi-sited, but also

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episodic The ephemeral quality of the flea market confines and restricts the temporal dimension of field work, but its contemporary setting in an urban locale means that field work cannot be conducted in isolation from other goings-on in the city, making the contextualization and linkages ever more important Weighing both the advantages and limitations of Belk et al‘s naturalistic inquiry, as well as taking into consideration the richness of data gathered by both Sherry and Maisel‘s ethnographic approach to the study

of their field settings, this study of a flea market in Singapore, as shall be discussed, has been driven by largely by such qualitative methods of inquiry, including participant-observation, semi-structured interviews and content analysis

2.2.1 Participant-observation

Over a period of about five months, I carried out participant-observation at flea markets organized by flea market organizer The Flea11 By focusing on a single flea market organizer, I hoped to concentrate on the richness of the context afforded by these flea markets and provide the sort of ―thick description‖ so compellingly espoused by Geertz (1973) The flea markets organized by The Flea during the length of my fieldwork were mostly held at a night club along the Singapore River on Saturdays These

‗sessions‘, as they are usually referred to by the organizer, vendors and shoppers alike, took place over a period of about 6 hours each time, usually from about 2pm in the afternoon to about 8pm in the evening, after which ‗regular‘ operations in the club

commenced Flea markets held by The Flea were chosen as the primary field site for

11

A pseudonym has been used in place of the flea market‘s real name to protect the identities of the organizers, vendors and shoppers who participated in this study

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several reasons Firstly, the periodic and ephemeral nature of the flea market necessitated the regularity and frequency of recurrence for the gathering of sufficient data On average, these flea market sessions held by the organizer take place monthly or fortnightly An exception to this was two consecutive flea market sessions held by the organizer over a weekend at an art gallery, in conjunction with the gallery‘s ‗open day‘ These two

‗special‘ sessions had an ‗arts and designers‘ theme, where most vendors were required to sell some form of handicraft or visual art Because of these two ‗special‘ sessions, the organizer held three flea market sessions in total, the third of which was held at the usual venue of the night club Secondly, having started in mid-2006, The Flea was, by the time

of this study, said to be a relatively well-established and well-known flea market amongst consumers It was named one of Singapore ―best‖ five flea markets by a popular online news portal (CNNGo, 2011)

To gain a more holistic perspective into the social interaction that takes place at this flea market, I participated both as a vendor and a shopper on separate occasions This was to provide me with a vendor‘s perspective of the market and an opportunity to talk to other vendors about their flea market experiences As a vendor, I rented a stall for a relatively small sum from the organizer, sharing it with close friends who sold their

unwanted personal possessions such as clothing, costume jewelry, bags and footwear, alongside mine Like most of the other vendors who sold at this flea market, I found out about upcoming sessions from the organizers website and social media12 updates, and

12 The organizers provide timely updates about upcoming flea market sessions via social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook ‗Followers‘ who subscribe to the organizer‘s social media accounts get updates on the details and/or changes of sessions

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registered for a stall via email each time Payment for the rent of the stall was initially made via fund transfer to the organizer‘s bank account, and later on, in cash on the day of the session, after rapport with the organizer was established For all of the sessions during which I participated as a vendor, I arrived at about 1.30pm to set up my stall in time for the start of the flea market, and stayed until the end of it at about 8pm This allowed me

to observe what took place while vendors were setting up their stalls before the start of the flea market, as well as what went on while they were packing up after the flea market

I also participated as a shopper at other sessions, browsing the stalls, observing the going-ons, talking to people and sometimes striking up casual conversations This provided me with the shopper‘s perspective of the flea market I also engaged the vendors and shoppers in informal interviews at the market to have a rough gauge of how sociable and ready people were to interact with complete strangers As a shopper, I stayed for several hours at each session, arriving and leaving at different timings each trip, just as a

‗regular‘ shopper would I recorded pertinent information and quotes from the informal interviews on paper, noting them down as soon as I had the opportunity Extensive field notes were also written down during or after each of the fieldwork sessions Photographs

of the field site were also taken at opportune moments Although Belk et al discusses the intrusiveness of mechanical recording methods such as photography, the ease with which

I could use my mobile phone‘s camera function ensured that my photo-taking actions did not attract too much attention, and were not exceptionally out of the ordinary As Belk et al‘s methodological proposition so necessitates, a naturalistic inquiry requires the

―interpretation of data collected in situ‖ (1988: 450) Hence, the output of such

observation, participation and interaction with others in the field in the form of field notes,

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photographs, and audio recordings serve as important sources of raw data for

interpretation and analysis (ibid)

2.2.2: Semi-structured interviews

To supplement the data collected from participant-observation and informal interviews, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were also conducted with sixteen

participants13—seven vendors and nine shoppers14

In-depth interviews are the most appropriate format to generate data that is explored in ―depth, nuance, complexity and roundedness‖ that a study of the ‗action scene‘ of a flea market demands (Mason, 2005: 65).These interviews were held with both vendors and shoppers at the flea market, who agreed to speak about their flea market experiences outside of the field The goal was to gather nuanced, in-depth accounts of their personal perceptions and experiences of their time spent at the flea market, as well as to provide a better understanding of the social context within which the vendors‘ impetus for selling, and the shoppers‘ consumption behavior and preferences arose I got to know the interviewees through informal

encounters and interaction over the course of participant-observation at the field site Interviews were scheduled at a timing and location at the interviewees‘ convenience, usually at public places such as a quiet café As the interviews were semi-structured,

categories of social actors to be conceptually separate, so as to more firmly ground each perspective in the

articulation of their flea market experiences I categorized participants as ‗vendors‘ and ‗shoppers‘ according to their role at the time of my acquaintance with them at the flea market At times when I was introduced to a participant through a third party, I gave them the option of identifying themselves as either ‗vendor‘ or ‗shopper‘

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impromptu questions about new points raised were asked when required and hence, interviews lasted between about twenty-five minutes to about one and a half hours each time,

depending on the interviewees‘ responses and responsiveness The identities of the

interviewees are kept strictly confidential and pseudonyms have been used in place of their real names

2.2.3: Content Analysis

Although Belk et al, Maisel and Sherry limit their field sites to the physical location of the flea markets they study, any contemporary analysis of social phenomena, especially in an urban setting, needs to take into consideration the far and wide reaches of content produced via new media Social media platforms, weblogs and websites on the internet provide a wealth of data for analysis As The Flea uses their website and social media accounts to publicize their flea market sessions, and are a medium through which flea market participants can interact with one another, any study of these flea markets

cannot neglect the significance of an analysis of these modes of discourse- production Mason has recommended thinking of textual document analysis as ―constructions‖ that are constitutive of social and cultural relations, rather than merely revealing facts about them (2002: 111) An analysis of The Flea‘s official website and social media accounts will thus provide an insight into how the organizers position the flea market vis-à-vis

their participants, giving a more holistic account of the social actors‘ interactions and

relations with one another, as well as the discourse surrounding flea markets in Singapore

2.3 A Brief Introduction of the Field Site: Setting, Objects and Social Actors

conceptualization of flea market themes and the maintenance of the flea market‘s website

On occasions when the flea market is held at the night club—as it most frequently is— vendors fill both indoor and outdoor stall spaces, as the flea market spans from

inside the night club to the walkway outside of it Some of the outdoor stall spaces are sheltered while others are not Music is usually played outdoors from speakers set up by the organizers, while a disc jockey ‗spins‘ music from the deejay console inside the night club The night club‘s bar is also open throughout the duration of each flea market

session, and serves both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks Each stall is given a coupon for the free redemption of one free drink from the bar On a few ‗special‘ sessions, the flea market was held at an old government building which had been turned into an art gallery; and a café in a gentrified area on the fringes of downtown Singapore Like the sessions held at the night club, those held at these ‗special‘ locations also had stalls set-up

in indoor and outdoor areas of the establishment

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Vendors15 selling at The Flea can be categorized into three broad groups, according to the merchandise they sell, as well as the extent of the commercial

motivations and investment behind their participation at the flea market:

i Owners of online businesses run online businesses (based in Singapore)

out of their weblogs (‗blogs‘) or websites and are usually selling new clothing, bags, shoes and costume jewelry sourced from foreign suppliers Their motivations and considerations behind selling at the flea market are largely business-driven Most use the flea market as a platform from which to promote their online business, and an opportunity to reach out to potential customers

brand-ii Some of the vendors who are owners of online businesses are popularly

known as ‗blog-shop‘ owners, as they operate their businesses mainly from their blogs or ‗blog-shops‘ Blog-shops sell mainly imported clothes, shoes, bags and costume jewelry and operate their businesses in a distinct fashion (Abidin, unpublished) As shall be discussed, many other owners

of online businesses who sell at the flea market also see blog-shop owners

as a conceptually distinct group of vendors Like owners of online businesses, however, blog-shop owners also use the flea market as a platform to reach out to customers and to promote their businesses

iii Crafters sell their handicrafts, such as costume jewelry at the flea market

They mostly use the flea market as a platform from which they can both

15 See Chapter 4 for a more in-depth discussion on vendors

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display and sell their products Some of them view selling at the flea market as a hobby and an opportunity for them to indulge in their handicraft hobbies, while others have more business-driven attitudes towards their participation as vendors

iv Second-hand merchandise marketers sell their unwanted personal

possessions such as clothes, shoes, bags, books, costume jewelry and knick-knacks at heavily-discounted prices, possibly at a much lesser price than what they had paid for Merchandise are usually displayed on

portable clothes racks and ‗bargain bins‘ at their stall The items may be used or brand-new, but were purchases for personal use that were not intended for profit from resale This group of vendors seems to be, arguably, the least business-oriented of the lot, and mostly aim to get rid

of their old possessions by selling them cheaply at flea markets

Shoppers at the flea market start streaming in at about 2pm, the ‗official‘ opening time of the market, and dwindle by 8pm, the ‗official‘ closing time of the flea market The crowd usually thickens from about 3pm-5pm The number of visitors to each flea market session, however, varies with weather conditions, with rainy weather bringing in the least number of shoppers Most of the shoppers at the flea market look to be in their mid-teens to late twenties, with the exception of curious passers-by and wandering

tourists In my visits to the field site, I also observed the social interactions between vendors and shoppers that took place and pursued some of these as topics of discussion

22 during in-depth interviews, so as to gather a better understanding of what I had observed from the perspectives of the participants

of which may be found in the ―miles and miles of shopping complexes‖ that adorn the architectural landscape of Singapore (ibid: 35) Shopping malls have been a widely-studied phenomenon of modern capitalist societies and have been substantial in much of the literature on consumption and the economy Chua notes how department stores and shopping centers have been elevated to the status of ‗dream places‘ or ‗cathedrals‘ of contemporary consumer culture within academic social science literature (ibid) He privileges shopping malls as ―the prime sites of research‖ (ibid: 42) for his work on consumption culture in Singapore, and documents how the set-up and organization of shopping malls, luxury boutiques and department stores have shaped consumer behavior and attitudes in very particular ways The interactions between sales staff and customers

in luxury boutiques, for example, having been shaped by the space of the retail outlet, are also crucial in socially producing consumers of high-end fashion and establishing the customers‘ status as a fashion-savvy consumer (ibid: 56-75) The shopping mall and the department stores and shops within them thus constitute a visibly and seemingly

significant portion of the retail landscape in Singapore

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Additionally, public housing estates in Singapore have provided space for a whole host of commercial activities, catering to the everyday material needs of residents without them having to leave their immediate vicinities (Yeh and Yeung, 1972) The ‗self-

sufficiency‘ of each housing estate has long been the Housing Development Board‘s planning objective Planning guidelines since the early years of the Singapore

government‘s efforts to provide public housing have ensured that

―wider-than-neighborhood needs‖ of residents are met through the stipulation on sufficient space for commercial activities like community shopping malls, shops and food centers (ibid: 57) The recent decade has seen an even larger increase in the number and scale of these

suburban shopping malls16, with many of them housing the same brand-name shops and department stores17 as those in the shopping malls along the downtown Orchard Road shopping belt These suburban shopping malls are located within close proximity of Mass Rapid Transit Stations and bus stops, making it highly accessible This is in no small part due to the government‘s efforts18

to decentralize commercial activities to the suburbs, providing a one-stop shopping experience right at residents‘ doorsteps (Ibrahim and Leng, 2003: 179) Smaller ―mom-and-pop‖ shops located in HDB heartlands, have however, in recent years, seen a large share of their business being taken away by bigger chain stores

Serangoon (nex Mall)

18 The 1991 Revised Concept Plan Urban Redevelopment Authority (2003) ‗Land use and urban planning:

Development guide plans‘, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore www.ura.gov.sg

25

located in shopping malls, forcing many of them to overhaul their business operations to attract more customers, or face the threat of closure

The ‗formal‘ retail scene in Singapore is characterized by the ubiquitous presence

of shopping malls, department stores and shops in both the downtown districts and

residential ‗heartlands‘, and significantly meet, as well as shape, the consumption culture

in Singapore Shopping malls, however, make up just one, albeit important part of the complex, multi-layered retail scene in Singapore There also exists a seemingly small and less conspicuous but no less vibrant, interesting and exciting ‗informal‘ retail scene in Singapore

3.1: The ‘Formal’ and the ‘Informal’—Dichotomy or Spectrum?

Indeed, the line between ‗formal‘ and ‗informal‘ retail settings begs some explanation and exploration Several authors have discussed the characterization of

‗formal‘ and ‗informal‘ forms of retail Informality is sometimes described as being in direct opposition to formal forms of retail Stone, Horne and Hibbert (1996), for example, describe garage sales, arts and crafts fairs, swap meets and flea markets as ―alternative, flexible retail formats‖ that can be seen as ―unearthed relics of simple, more direct

exchange processes that have gained new impetus and have challenged the more

bureaucratic, larger scale retail organizations‖ (ibid: 5-6) Such a description then implies that ‗formal‘, ‗mainstream‘ retail formats are modern, complex and rigid Clifford Geertz (1963), in his account of commerce in Modjokuto, makes a similar distinction between the formal ―firm-type economy‖ and the informal ―bazaar economy‖ The former is described as having ―formal organizational innovation, the permanence of business

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organization, the reliability of relationships with producers and distributors, and the expansion of the urban public market‖, while the latter is ―a world of dubious goods, nameless shops, and poor market signaling‖ (Geertz, 1963: 58 from Fanselow, 1990: 261)

Turning towards more fluid descriptions of retail settings, other categorizations have been left more open-ended and contextual Cross and Morales (2007) have criticized previously-rigid definitions and descriptions that distinguished informal and formal retail settings as mutually exclusive categories that existed in absolute opposition and hierarchy

to each other By thinking about how retail settings like street markets are not formal, we

run the risk of what Cross and Morales call ―formalomorphism—the tendency to reify a formal category, retail trade, and diagnose problems with street markets or other residual activities as if it were a bad copy of the privileged category instead on appreciating the, for what they are and what they do contribute to society and the economy‖ (ibid: 9) Instead, Cross and Morales propose that informality in retail and trade be seen not as a violation of rules, but as ―a particular way in which people interact‖, promoting ―the spirit of survival and flexibility‖, and existing alongside other systems of economic activity (ibid) Similarly, Sherry (1990a: 15-18) working from a consumer research perspective has provided a framework for understanding these forms of marketplace structures and functions Instead of looking at ‗formal‘ and ‗informal‘ retail settings as dichotomous and mutually exclusive, however, Sherry has very usefully suggested that the structural dimension of the marketplace be seen as belonging to a continuum between

‗formal-informal‘ dialectic, where the ‗formal‘ end is characterized as ―official,

controlled, highly rationalized, proactive and institutional‖, while the ‗informal‘ end is

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viewed as ―less official (often clandestine), less controlled, less rationalized, reactive, and transient in nature‖ (ibid: 16) Additionally, Sherry discusses the functional dimension of the marketplace in his framework, as existing along a continuum between an ―economic-festive‖ dialectic The ―economic‖ function is characterized by ―notions of rationality utility‖ while the ―festive‖ function is ―hedonic and experiential in nature‖ (ibid) Both the formal-informal dialectic and the economic-festive dialectic intersect, forming a variety of marketplace structures and functions under which retail settings can be

characterized Sherry has also elsewhere used the term ―alternative conduit‖ to refer to the ―ecology, social structure, and ideology of transactions that occur outside of the conventional conduit typically studied by marketers‖ to refer to particular types of

marketplace organization (1990b: 177).For Sherry then, retail set-ups may be

characterized in a multi-dimensional and fluid manner that takes into account not only the structure (formal-informal), but also, the function (economic-festive), and are highly contextual phenomena that cannot be rigidly defined

3.2: The Alternative Retail Scene in Singapore

Adopting both Cross and Morales‘ and Sherry‘s conceptual fluidity in describing

‗informality‘, I will now turn to Singapore‘s retail and trade context Several types of such alternative, informal retail spaces may be found in Singapore These include, but are

not exhaustive of ‗local‘ night markets (pasar malam), the Sungei Road Thieves‘ market

and event-based flea markets To better understand the flea markets studied in this

research, it is pertinent to first provide an overview of the ‗informal‘, ‗alternative‘ retail

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scene in Singapore, and to identify the characteristics of some of the other types of

markets so as not to conflate these different kinds of alternative retail spaces

3.2.1: Typology of Alternative Retail in Singapore

i The night market, or pasar malam (‗pasar‘ meaning ‗market‘ and ‗malam‘ meaning night

in the Malay language) is a form of retailing activity commonly found in many parts of Southeast Asia (Ibrahim and Leng, 2003: 178) The first night markets in Singapore were apparently started in 1953 by a group of hawkers that followed the performing schedules

of street opera troupes, selling wherever and whenever they performed (ibid) After a ban was imposed in 1978 due to efforts to regulate hygiene standards and curb pollution, the

pasar malam was reintroduced to housing estates in 1991 to ―revive‖ these older

residential areas (ibid) It is now typically found throughout most public housing estates

or residential ‗heartlands‘ of Singapore (ibid) These night markets are usually lined along pavements by the side of roads and/or at the void decks under Singapore‘s many public housing apartment blocks, and are often thought of as features of residential

heartlands As the name suggests, the pasar malam operates in the evening and late into

the night These markets are characterized by the mobile nature of their stalls and usually last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks in a particular estate before moving to others They consist of various hawkers selling a mélange of goods at their respective stalls The goods sold at these night markets include, but is not exhaustive of, cooked-food, fruit, clothes, electronic devices, music compact discs, children‘s toys and

household items Most of the goods sold at the pasar malam are brand new but known to

be lowly-priced, highly affordable, of relatively low quality and catering more to the

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everyday, domestic needs of residents The continued presence of the pasar malam in public housing estates is also attributed to its ―fund-raising capability‖ for various

grassroots organizations (Ibrahim and Leng, 2003: 179)

ii The Sungei Road Thieves’ market in Singapore has been recently described as

―Singapore‘s oldest flea market‖ 19

(eTour Singapore, 2009; CNNGo, 2010), ―dodgy‖ and

―a step back into the 1950s for the wandering tourist‖ (CNNGo, 2011) However, unlike the type of flea markets that is of interest in this paper, the Sungei Road market sells a range of second-hand goods that many associate with cast-offs The market gets its name

from its location along the banks of the Rochor River in Singapore (―sungei‖ meaning

―river‖ in the Malay language) As the name also suggests, the market was once known for its sale of stolen goods, and is a throwback to its start in the 1930s as a meeting point for criminals to hawk their ill-gotten goods (CNNGo, 2010) The market is also run mainly by middle-aged or old men The market still exists today and operates regularly as

a gathering ground for vendors, selling an eclectic mix of bric-a-brac items ranging from old soda bottles, religious amulets, vinyl records and old electrical goods (ibid) Having a long history that has spanned across generations of Singaporeans, the market has also been somewhat of a permanent fixture as it is open on all days of the week, albeit most vibrant and lively during the weekends (CNNGo, 2011) It has therefore, none of the sorts of ephemeral qualities of time and space associated with the flea markets in this paper

19

The space of the market has, unfortunately, been halved by authorities in light of the construction of the Mass Rapid Transit‘s Circle Line, and has because of this, resulted in its vendors jostling for space, something virtually unheard of in the flea market‘s history (― Vendors at Sungei Rd flea market fight for space‖, www

channelnewsasia.com, 25th July 2011)

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3.2.2: ‗Flea Markets‘ in Singapore

There has been little consensus over and discussion about what actually constitutes a ‗flea market‘, even in literature that explicitly studies such field sites Miller (1988) notes that the term ―flea market‖ arose with the beginning of the Paris Flea

Market around 1870, where ―broken furniture, rags and used mattresses, which were called ‗flea bags‘ in slang‖, were sold, hence giving the market its name (from Schneider, 1960: 62-63; Austin and Torbin, 1973) The term has since been loosely and broadly used,

it seems, to describe open-air or semi-open-air marketplaces of a periodic nature To avoid running the risk of over-generalization, this paper recognizes that ‗flea markets‘ are

by no means a homogenous category There are many informal retail spaces which do not identify themselves as ‗flea markets‘, but that share some similarities with this relatively informal form of retail set-up The Islamic bazaar found in various parts of the Middle East, for example, has had a long history and have existed for centuries along ancient trade routes (Weiss, 1998) Belonging to the ‗bazaar economy‘, as its name suggests, the Islamic bazaar, like its ‗Western‘ counterpart of the flea market, is based heavily on face-to-face transactions in the marketplace and is also relatively mobile in its set-up

However, its origins as hubs of trade and commerce between merchants differ from the apparently more ‗bohemian‘ and less business-oriented origins of the Paris (‗Western‘) flea market

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Most of the literature on ‗flea markets‘ have thus been based on research in

‗Western‘ contexts and societies, belying the fact that ‗non-Western‘ societies20

have also

in recent years, adopted the term to describe markets in their locales The Sungei Road

Thieves‘ Market in Singapore, for example, has been described as Singapore‘s oldest flea

market Many different ‗flea markets‘ have also been widely-publicized by the media in Singapore, and these range from markets selling handicrafts by up-and-coming local artists and designers21, to fashion-related events held within shopping malls22, adding yet another layer of complexity to the local retail scene (CNNGo, 2011; Urban, 2011)

However, the setup, organization, duration, frequency, types of things sold, participating social actors and their motivations all differ largely from market to market, and even more so from that of the flea market chosen for this study Broadly speaking, having none

of the long history of the other two types of markets, the type of flea markets which The Flea belongs to, is a relatively new phenomenon and a conceptual category of its own These flea markets are event-based, held over weekends and usually only last for less than a day (about six or seven hours) at a time, at locations all over Singapore These locations include night clubs, museums and gentrified areas of Singapore popular with

20 I recognize that the terms ‗Western‘ and ‗non-Western‘ are highly contested and problematic in reality However,

I have chosen to use the terms here in a loosely to point out the lack of research done on ‗flea markets‘ outside of what is considered ‗developed‘ economies such as the United States, Britain and New Zealand Although Singapore

is considered by many to be a ‗developed‘ economy and is in many ways ‗Western‘, the nation-state still considers itself ‗Asian‘ and ‗non-Western‘

21 The Market of Artists and Designers (more popularly known as MAAD), offers ―unique art pieces‖ of ―handmade jewelry‖ by budding local artists and designers Prices are said to be higher than ―normal‖ flea market bargains (Urban, 25 March 2011)

22 The Green & Gorgeous Earth Hour Fashion Party, for example, was a ―flea market‖ held in conjunction with Earth Hour, a environmentally-friendly initiative, and Fashion Season@Orchard, an event promoting fashion in Singapore along the Orchard Road shopping belt, and was a swap event where participants exchanged used items of their clothing (Urban, 25 March 2011)

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the young and yuppies, such as Dempsey Hill They are also run by a central organizer that rents stalls out to interested vendors and promotes these flea market events through online blogs and websites Examples of these organizers include ‗Flea-tique!‘, ‗Flea Titan‘ and ‗The Flea‘ As these flea markets seem to target and attract youth, it is forming

a small but vibrant part of youth and popular culture in Singapore

Other types of informal retail spaces that have surfaced in the literature include street fairs, farmers‘ markets (Petrocci, 1981), car boot sales (Crewe and Gregson, 1997; 1998; Hibbert, Horne and Stone, 1996) and garage or yard sales (Hermann and Soiffer, 1984; Hermann, 1996; 1997; 2003 & 2004) All these types of alternative retail spaces, as mentioned in the literature, are found in the United States of America and the United Kingdom but unlike the flea market, have not caught on in Singapore due to various reasons For example, with most of its population living in public housing flats due to land-size constraints, garage or yard sales as they are held in suburban USA are

practically not feasible in Singapore Car boot sales have surfaced recently in Singapore but because it is held relatively infrequently (SG Car Boot Sales, 2009), I have not

chosen to focus on them

The primary field site of this study—The Flea, occupies a unique position within the retail context in Singapore It is not strictly a ‗brick-and-mortar‘ business in that it does not operate out of a purpose-built structure meant for retail activities like shopping malls are It is also clearly ephemeral and has no fixed operating hours like shopping

23 Pseudonym

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malls do To better understand how The Flea is situated within the local retail scene, it is first pertinent to consider some of its history, motivations behind its start, as well as how

it attempts to distinguish itself from other self-identified flea markets in Singapore

The Flea is a self-described ‗independent flea market‘ Its founders, Jess24, a fashion designer and Troy, a sound artist, both in their twenties, claim to be inspired by similar markets in other countries like Australia and those in Europe Seeing a lack of such spaces in Singapore, they wanted to introduce the ―culture of flea markets‖ to the local retail scene in the way that they had experienced it during their travels abroad This meant that they started The Flea in mid-2006 without any intention of profiting from it, but rather, saw it as a space ―for artists, designers, people with their own stuff‖ to

―showcase‖ their work and a ―platform for unique items to have a space‖ Jess and Troy thus have their own ideas of what a flea market is and stands for, and this is translated into their conception of The Flea They describe and promote The Flea as an ―Indie, Elec-tric Flea Market‖ and are not a registered business, running it as a non-profit venture outside of their full-time jobs They also see The Flea as a pioneer in the flea market scene in Singapore, and claim that their concept has been mimicked, to different degrees

of (un)success, by other organizers Both Jess and Troy serve as the organizers of the flea market sessions, handling all aspects of its operations including but not exhaustive of, the collection of rent, logistics, administration, publicity, conceptualization of flea market themes and the maintenance of the flea market‘s website

24 Pseudonyms have been used to protect the identities of the participants in this study

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When it first started, The Flea was apparently nothing more than a casual gathering of a group of artists and designers who had, upon the suggestion of Jess and Troy, agreed to come together on weekend afternoons to display and possibly sell their work Jess explains the initial flea market sessions held by The Flea:

Mainly it popped up when our friends were all designing something or coming up with new sounds for bands (those of us) who don‘t (didn‘t) have a space and a platform to showcase our things so we just got together and decided this is what we wanted to do We did it out of sheer fun (we thought) all of us (could be) getting together on Saturdays, having cheap beers, get (getting) the music we like and express

(expressing) what we want to do that‘ll be perfect

This spirit of ―sheer fun‖ that was the impetus behind the flea market‘s birth corresponds closely with Sherry‘s ‗festive‘ function of the marketplace along the economic-festive dialectic Conceptualizing of the flea market as a place and space where friends could gather on weekends to share their art work and partake in conviviality by sharing

affordable alcohol—―cheap beers‖—the festive function of the marketplace seems to be a dominant dialectical dimension in its founder‘s discussion of its origins Rather than an explicitly commercial venture, The Flea started off as a place for ‗showcasing‘ works of

‗art‘ by ―designers‖ and ―bands‖, who needed an outlet to display their work

Additionally, the founders of The Flea have also, like Miller (1988) consciously drawn from ‗Western‘ origins and definitions of the flea market in Paris, and have chosen

to emphasize the non-profiting motivations and artistic aspects of flea market history, serving as a ‗founding principle‘ for the current running of The Flea Jess elaborates on her belief:

With no intention of profiting from the flea market, its economic function, with its

rationality and utility, is in contrast, not emphasized as an identifiable characteristic of the flea market, but rather, only a secondary motivation This ‗non-economic‘ function and non-profit-making motive of the flea market is best expressed when flea markets are contrasted with what the market‘s founders describe to be profit-making ―bazaars‖, as Jess explains:

When we go around and we see events (where people ask) like ‗How much did you earn today?‘, ‗How much can I earn if I‘m here?‘ or ‗How much can I sell?‘ they (other organizers) use the term ‗flea market‘, quote unquote flea market, as a platform to make sales That I will say, is something we don‘t encourage So it‘s a very fine line to becoming a bazaar but I think because of the various elements that we included and how we started and how we are not aggressive in advocating it in that (profit-making) way Many people have that misconception and call any form of gathering a flea market

In naming itself a ‗flea market‘, the founders of The Flea had certain pre-conceived notions of what the term entails and what role they want their market to play within the local retail context To Jess, structural similarities between the bazaar and the flea market gave way to functional differences in motivation Though the bazaar is ephemeral and make-shift like the flea market, it is thought to differ greatly in terms of motivations, with the former being concerned with profiting economically from its set-up and operating under what Jess sees as the ‗guise‘ of a flea market The explicitly and overtly money-making aspect of the bazaar is seen as the ―fine line‖ that separates the two types of marketplaces

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Indeed, this overt aversion to outright profiting from the flea market and the desire for it to be, instead, a leisurely and pleasurable experience, is reflected in how the organizers choose the market locations Jess explains:

That‘s why we always try to select locations that are fluid, more spacious, where people take their time, take the day off, have a chance to smell the roses and you know, enjoy themselves, meet new people, make new friends and things like that And not (think) like ‗How much is that? I want it cheaper.‘ (when wanting to buy something) or ‗How much did I earn (from setting up a stall at the flea market)?‘

The festive aspect of the market is coupled with its structural informality In choosing

―fluid, more spacious locations‖ that the organizers think will provide for a more

amicable atmosphere that encourages social interaction, and the fact that The Flea takes place on a periodic, ephemeral basis, an informal marketplace structure, one that is ―less official less controlled, reactive, and transient in nature‖ (Sherry, 1990a: 16), seems

to be the presiding dialectical dimension This mobility and non-fixity of its set-up is an important indicator of the extent of informality and flexibility with which the flea market operates its retail activity, and is a key distinguishing characteristic from other more formal and institutionalized retail formats The relative structural informality provided by this non-fixity of venue thus allows the organizers the freedom to choose the flea market locations and take advantage of each space in a dynamic way that encourages the festive dimension of its function

3.4 Conclusion

Having provided an overview of the retail scene in Singapore, as well as a discussion of the categories of ‗formal‘ and ‗informal‘ retail spaces, I have sought to

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situate the primary field site of this study, The Flea, within the larger context, so as to allow for a better understanding of the terms used to describe it, as well as the types of categories which it is often thought to fall under The ‗formal-informal‘ distinction is not always a clear one to delineate, and as has been proposed by Sherry, as well as Cross and Morales, are more fluid than static in practice By looking at ‗The Flea‘ through Sherry‘s framework along the structural ‗formal-informal‘ dialectic, as well as the functional

‗economic-festive‘ dialectic, an understanding of the type of ‗alternative‘ retail that it is, may be reached The informal retail scene in Singapore, as has been discussed, is varied, and while flea markets reside within that sphere of economic activity, they are by no means homogenous The founding ‗visions‘ of The Flea have afforded it a unique place within the flea market landscape in Singapore, and serve to inform both vendors and shoppers of The Flea, about the type of retail space they sell and shop at respectively This, as will be explored in the coming chapters, may serve to influence participants‘ interactions and conceptions of the flea market, and it is to this that we now turn

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Chapter 4: Negotiating Between the Informal and Formal—Vendors

and Contestations of Quality and Authenticity

As one of the main social actors in the field site that is the flea market, vendors (or ‗sellers‘)—people who sell their wares, whatever they might be, at the flea market, reveal significant insights behind the workings of such forms of retail set-up As

participants of what is often considered ‗non-mainstream‘ economic activity, flea market vendors may not necessarily adhere to the same principles and motivations that guide retailers operating within more formal systems of economic activity Whether with

intentions to seek their fortunes or otherwise, those who sell in more informal retail settings have often been described to adopt different approaches in their participation in such forms of economic activity Cross and Morales (2007), and others in the same volume, for example, have commended the remarkable levels of resourcefulness,

flexibility, innovation and ingenuity that vendors of street markets have come to develop

in face of obstacles from governmental authorities and economic downturns De Bruin and Dupuis (2000) have also documented how the economic downturn in New Zealand saw people turning to selling at flea markets as a financial coping strategy Similarly, Fanselow (1990) notes how adaptive ‗sellers‘ in the Kalakkadu bazaar are, as they

negotiate their way around existing market conditions to develop a logical system of running their businesses without ever fully adopting any of the processes associated with formal economic activity

Additionally, the things being sold in the flea market may also serve as conduits through which these ‗behind-the-scenes‘ dynamics are played out Kopytoff (1986) theorizing on ―the cultural biographies of things‖, for example, has noted how some

39

things may be ‗born‘ as commodities, while others have the ‗commodity status‘ thrust upon them Yet others may go through singularization processes that seek to imbue them with more personal and restricted characteristics All this have an impact on the way the things sold in the flea market are valued and subsequently priced, and may, as will be explored, bring to fore many tensions, negotiations and relations surrounding economic exchange

4.1: A Background of the Flea Market Vendors

The Flea has, over the years attracted a variety of participants, who have joined as vendors, to their flea market sessions Most of the vendors found out about the flea market through The Flea‘s website, social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter, and others through word of mouth from peers Most of the vendors interviewed have, previously, participated in flea markets held by other organizers at a variety of locations Some participate regularly, with a frequency of as often as once a week, as vendors at flea markets all around the country For these vendors, ‗flea marketing‘ is a weekly activity and The Flea just one of the many along their ‗circuit‘ of flea markets Other vendors participate with less frequency, ranging from about once every few months to once a month Most of the vendors hold full-time jobs outside of their selling at flea markets As flea markets take place mostly over weekends, none of the vendors spoken to have quit their day jobs to sell at flea markets on a full-time basis, and do not depend on their earnings at the flea market as a main source of livelihood

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Vendors selling at the flea market may be categorized into four broad groups, according to the merchandise they sell, as well as the extent of the commercial

motivations and investments behind their participation at the flea market:

1 Owners of online businesses run online businesses (based in Singapore) out of

their weblogs (‗blogs‘) or websites and are usually selling brand-new clothing,

bags, shoes and costume jewelry sourced from foreign suppliers Their

motivations and considerations behind selling at the flea market are largely

business-driven Most use the flea market as a platform from which to

promote their online business, and an opportunity to reach out to potential

customers

Daisy, in her early 20s, owns an online business outside of her full-time job as an

executive Her online ‗shop‘ sells vintage clothing and accessories To ‗get the

word out‘ about her online ‗shop‘, she participates in flea markets where she sells

her goods and gives out name cards bearing her shop‘s website to promote her

business The bulk of her revenue for her business does not come from what she

sells at the flea markets, but from purchases on her website

2 Some of the vendors who are owners of online businesses are popularly

known as ‗blog-shop‘ owners, as they operate their businesses mainly from their

blogs or ‗blog-shops‘ Blog-shops sell mainly imported clothes, shoes, bags and

costume jewelry and operate their businesses in a distinct fashion (Abidin, 2011)

As shall be discussed, many other owners of online businesses who sell at the flea

market also see blog-shop owners as a conceptually distinct group of vendors