Squareface @ 31°North

05 Feb 2007

Flea Market @ Far East Square

Posted by: Squareface In: Singapore| Work life

16.5 hours, 100 over items, and 26 transactions at 30 degrees celsius. With a salary of less than a dollar per hour, it was a test of patience, self-entertaining skills, and the limit of our stomachs (overload of snacks, teh tariks, and teh chinos) over the last 2 days.

It was great, and we thank all supporters (albeit few). Cheers to my fellow CEOs of the business and I’m glad sales was more than anticipated.

Flea markets are worth a look-see once in a while, for you can really find plenty of miscellaneous stuff and possible good-finds. Try selling the barang barang from your home too if you have an afternoon’s worth of time. You never know what kind of transaction you might get. Try not to sell gifts from friends though, because you never know when your dear friend might suddenly pop by. A friendship is not worth being jeopardized by a few dollars.

Our little space was rented from Far East Square, which is manned by a rather gungho and easy-to-talk-to Auntie, Mrs Tan, contactable at 91099055. You pay 10 dollars for that 5ft by 5ft space for 12pm-10pm, complete with funny anecdotes from this stylish lady boss.

Although not a very lucrative business, it was a memorable experience of setting up and tearing down of the stall, and the attempts to sell the items to customers. Screw-ups were inevitable — inaccurate quotings of prices after declaring a half-price sale, and desperation was exhibited — the strive to convince a customer to buy a fortune-god-design pen by singing the cai shen dao song. I’ve also caught the flu, but it signifies a close relationship between us sellers and the dedication we had towards what others look at as just a mat on the ground. :) Now I can tick it off my list of ‘Things to Do/Try Before I Die’.


Far East Square Flea Market, every weekend, from 12pm - 7pm (Rent is till 10pm, but no one really stays till that late)


The 3 CEOs looking damn sian from low sales in the afternoon.


Time to call it a day!


We resorted to using this remote control car to attract customers to our stall on the 2nd day.

3 Responses to "Flea Market @ Far East Square"

1 | Squareface @ 31°North » Hold me just a little while longer

March 2nd, 2007 at 1:50 pm

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[...] Although it’s the 4th time that I’m leaving home for Shanghai after settling in comfortably for at least a month, the attachment remains strong. I’ll be missing plenty here: my family, who will always be there; friends who are willing to stick it out at a flea market stall; friends who are willing to explore Pulau Ubin together; friends who make the effort to meet up every single time that I’m back; friends whom I can goof around with at Swissotel; friends whom I can chat with till the wee hours in the morning with Kickapoo and Sampoerna at a coffee shop, talking about diversity in people and inter-personal relationships; friends who can really eat; and of course, a lover who loves with all her heart. [...]

2 | Squareface @ 31°North » Lelong Lelong

June 29th, 2007 at 5:24 pm

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[...] I did the flea market thing during my last holiday break (thanks Winnie, Lac, and Sam) just for the fun of it, to try to lelong lelong just for the heck of it. However, Dot managed to psycho me into doing it again, this time focusing only on 2 items — underwear and socks. [...]

3 | Squareface @ 1°North » Squareface is her own boss

August 6th, 2007 at 10:11 pm

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[...] At least for the 2 days at Far East Square Flea Market. I decided to set up a stall at the same location as the previous attempt at entrepreneurship because rental is cheap ($20 for 2 days); and there’s no need to book a spot for the whole month (China Square Flea Market regulations), nor way in advance (other flea markets). [...]

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