Flea Markets. (Kirpputori)

Annikki’s best hobby as an artist was to visit the flea markets (Kirpputori)  in Oulu. 

In the 1980s this was frowned upon by Finns who thought it below their dignity to buy second hand stuff.

Only when the severe long recession hit Finland in the late 1980s and early 1990s did the flea market culture become accepted as the Finns suffered greatly and had less money in their pockets. A popukar TV discussion program was featured at one time in a flea market 

There are six different types of flea markets. 

The first are the “antique” shops which sold high priced secondhand stuff which they called as antiques. Annikki did get some really non-Finnish good items from them. 

The second flea market type are the public auctions which were held regularly at a couple of places in Oulu. We used to bid for foreign items as Tiffany lamps and fabulous Italian glassware. We had nobody bidding against us as the Finns were busy buying Finnish “antiques”.

Tiffany dragonfly lamp we bought for €10 (now €240) from an Oulu Auction. This item is featured in the book about Tiffany glass!

Recently I sold a beautiful large Italian green glass ”goblet” we bought for €10 for €300 on Annikki’s Etsy page "Collectbles by Annikki" (not a misspelling!).

The third type of flea markets are those run by charitable organisations as the Red Cross (Kontti), the Pentecostal church and the Salvation Army. I remember the excitement of Kannan Balaram, an Indian student in Oulu, when he picked up a perfectly good jacket from the Pentecostal flea market for a couple of Euro,

Recently, when Indian Ambassador His Excellency Raveesh Kumar visited Oulu, I had packed all my clothes and they were not accessible from  the container in Ruusko. We were shifting residence at that time. I visited Kontti and bought a pair of trousers, a jacket, a shirt, tie, a belt and even a pair of socks for €30 to wear for the occasion!

Togged up from the flea market to meet 

Ambassador HE Raveesh Kumar!

The fourth type of flea market is one which buys general stuff as furniture, vacuum cleaners, etc., on the market and the general public, ensures they are working and then sells them with their mark up. Good buys are possible here.

The fifth type of flea market are those who rent you a small table/

booth. You put your stuff there with a price tag and code and you settle accounts at regular intervals. I have one on permanent rent at one of these flea markets. It is a great business idea, although it is not so valuable for me now as I am hampered in movement with my amputated leg.

The final type of flea markets are those where they give you a table and you put your stuff there and interact directly with the buyer.

We have taken part with all these types of flea markets and have managed all successfully.

It is good fun and you get bargains and also make good money if you study each type of market carefully. We furnished 80 apartments for our furnished apartment business almost entirely out of flea markets. 

When the first Indian IT team from Patni and LnT Infotech arrived in Oulu, we took them to the flea markets to help them furnish their apartments. My little trailer was used to take the stuff home.

I remember when Sreekanth Kanjarla arrived with his family I took them to a flea market in Toppila. Just as we arrived there was someone who had come to get rid of their surplus stuff. We did not even enter the flea market as we transferred their stuff from their trailer directly to my trailer. That was fun and one of the "best buys" ever! :-)

Annikki has an eye for art and quality and was very thrifty. She soon discovered many valuable things in the second hand markets that were in Oulu. 

The flea market run by the Pentecostal church was especially good as she found good buys there, especially semi-disposable stuff as skis snd skates for the children, good plates, cutlery, blankets, and little curios. Skates and skis have a lifetime of just a year, so why waste good money buying new stuff?

Annikki was always proud of the stuff she found after spending just a few Finnish marks at a time. As they say in India “it was a good time pass”.

But when she bought something,  she knew exactly how they would fit in our home! Some people who visited our earlier homes would recognise they were in Annikki's personal museum!

She had Finnish “sisu” as when she saw a good buy she would buy it straight away. She knew good things would not last long in the flea market.

Once when we were living in a penthouse on Torikatu, one evening when I looked out of the window I saw her carting a huge living room real oak centre table on her bicycle! There was her small frame pushing the cycle home behind a table mounted over the handlebars. Even now she laughs heartily when I remind her of this incident!

The table and much of the stuff as the valuable crystal flower 

vase at the back were all bought at flea markets!

She knew that this table was just the thing she wanted. We have it today in our living room after almost 23 years later.

In an earlier post on this blog, many many years ago, you will find another report on Oulu flea markets. 

To find the ones functioning today just Google “Oulu kirpputori” and the results of at least 11 of the popular ones active now should pop up.

Don't be a snob and live like the regular Finns do! :-)

Hope you enjoy flea marketing!

Findians