7:00 Am woken up by a horrible feeling in the sinking pit of my stomach that I'll be one of those sad flea market sellers that NOBODY wants to buy from (the type that I always end up buying a sympathy purchase from…). Quickly survey the bags to make sure that the dross I'm selling isn't completely craptastic.
7:40 Wake the boyf with great difficulty as he mumbles something about a mushy brain. A soft-celled brain isn't going to prevent him from being my stall supporter…
8:20 Addison Lee it down to Brick Lane to scout out possible places to set up and encounter other friendly first-time sellers who weren't sure where to pitch up. They wisely advise me to steer away from the BBQ stands. Afterall, don't want to be selling the shit pit of my wardrobe that's ALSO got the bonus smell of a burning sausage. Set up just across from 93 Feet East and begin unpacking…
8.30 … fold, fold, fold…
8.33 … shit, I can't fold properly. Is this why I didn't get that job in Gap? 25 years old and I can't fold my frickin' clothes. See that other stalls have their stuff all laid out already…
8.40 HANGERS! Doh! Visual merchandising rule #1 make sure your merchandise is err… visible. Immediately text incoming friends for hanger support.
8.50 Am jangling change in my little pouch because a handfull of pound coins is very satisfying (and I never have hard coin cash on me…).
9.00 First potential buyer alert! Woman asks about Eley Kishimoto shoes. I say they're a fiver. She shakes her head. I get worried. She asks about a sequinned dress. I say four quid. She wrinkles her nose and says it's too expensive and walks on. Mini panic attack that I've overpriced myself.
9.00-9.10 A couple of cool looking French gals sit down and literally look through everything I have on offer and shows interest by gathering up a pile for themselves and actively trying things on. Hands are rubbing each other gleefully in my head. My first sale! Turns out, one of them called Camille is taking pics for Fred Butler's blog (she snapped me as below…better than my boyf's slightly haphazard blurry camera action…). They also happen to have very refined taste as they snap up a Viktor & Rolf dress, a pair of bright blue leather shorts with ruching at the side and a vintage blouse with lovely covered buttons…
9.20 Uh-oh… a man with what looks like a county sheriff's badge is coming round telling us to pack our stuff away as we don't have a license to sell things on the street. The boyf comments that he looks a bit dodgy… like he could be a competing market stall holder wielding a fake badge telling people to clear off. Or just a bored power tripper who has a random badge. Us newbie sellers look at each other and strategise whether to stay or not. Then a white van from Tower Hamlets council turns up and says they'll take our stuff away if we don't pack up. Nothing to do but to pack up I guess… oh well… I'm to be content with my single set of customers and I'll have to lug this shit home again…
9.30 The van moves on and I've grumpily packed up and I see the other sellers sort of packing up veeeery slowly in a bid to prolong selling time. A group of gals who knew about the sale via Twitter arrive looking at my packed up Ikea bags and ask if they could rummage anyhow. Yeah, of course…. Oh and if the van pulls up again, just say you're my friends helping me pack. Rummage, rummage, rummage and again, they pick out some pretty good things…
Friends arrive with hangers! Up goes some things that I think got a bit sun-bleached…
9.45 Then for some reason, a group of ladies come up and just start picking things out of the bag. Quite brisk rummaging. Things are being unpacked for me even though I'm pondering whether I'm breaking the law or not as I'm selling from the bag direct. Then according to one girl, the council apparently just chases sellers out routinely but they just unpack anyway after they leave and the scary market patrollers can't really do anything about it by the time the people traffic gets really busy. I see others unpacking and so the bedsheet goes down again… I'm a sheep-like criminal…
Rapid set of sales in sequins, stripes and skirts (three things I DID have an excessive amount of…)
11:45 I'd document every sale but I honestly can't remember every particular one now, seeing as things went fairly quickly. By this point in the day, the sun was burning me to smithereens and I was struggling to subtract numbers properly even though everything was in rounded whole figures. Also because of the dorky way I am, I kept thinking every engine noise meant the scary white van was back (even though it was just the Age Concern van revving up…). The dregs on my sheet weren't really making people browse so up I got up, packed away…
…leaving these blue and silver flats as a "Susie WOZ ERE" type thing… hopefully someone who liked them took them home as a freebie… the dregs went to a local charity shop. I have a wodge of notes in my pocket and to the park we went to enjoy the rest of the scorching day…
I love how you left the shoes behind! I’m sure someone snapped them up immediately.
-Carmina
http://www.lacarmina.com/blog/
How weird! I was gonna do a Brick Lane sale today and then slept too late, doh. Glad you made money though! I’m gonna try and do it next week.
oh wow yeah those shoes are in great condition. how nice of ya!
Oh brilliant post!! Wished I was there but I woke up late…argh.
Loves the shoes 🙂
Blistering hot today :S
Ooh sounds like a success then!
xx-LJ from SOS!
got some goodies- so cheap i thought you had gone quite crazy! (the girl with the fro whose friend joined her and also bought some stuff)
where do you live? it looks ;ike a very lovely city. the shoes are in nice condition too, good luck 🙂
5 quid?!? What a bargain! Boo hoo, wish I could’ve gone 😉
xx
Ah wish I’d have gone, I know you weren’t hyping it up, but I’m sure there were some gems.
bargains galore! wish I was in London to rummage through your goods… 🙂
would have loved to have been there for a good rummage:)! maybe you can do a pop-up boutique in ireland some time:)!
You did well then!
Yeah, I can’t imagine the council actually managing to get sellers to move on…especially on a sunday on Brick Lane with the crazy crowds! I need to visit soon…I miss my cheap bagels!
I saw you in Elle UK, you looked so great and I am so jealous of you, you have no idea!
You go girl! Stay fashionable, and I’ll keep reading 😉
It was a lovely day to hang out and sell. Glad you got rid of some stuff…yeah the van comes and goes…:-)
PS Luv the post.
http://snappylifestyle.blogspot.com/
cheers
snappy
Awesome! I love your blog!!
SHIT! I would have bought that gold sequiny thing, I don’t even care what it was.
I am soo disappointed that I couldn’t make it and I am so jealous of the people who snapped up the Viktor&Rolf. And seriously how much did the woman who turned down an Elley Kishimoto for ¬£4 know about fashion? AARRRGGHHH
Sorry bout that 😀
Will you be holding a sale again? Please say yes…
Love xoxo
http://www.fashionflesh.blogspot.com
That’s so awesome! I wish there was something like that where I live. I think you’re too sweet to just leave the shoes there! (:
I really liked this post! I wish things like that happened where I live!
Oh, why oh why don’t you live near me?(blowing nose on kleenex) It would have been a dream come true to rummage through those bags and buy some of your stuff.
Whoever snagged those shoes must have thought they’d been touched by an angel. xo
i love how you documented the day, the entire post is awesooome! xx
I still can’t believe that woman thought 4 and 5 quid was too much. Sounds like a steal to me. Hope you made some good money, I’m planning on clearing out my wardrobe soon too.
seriously, why do all you guys worship this girl?my friend went to bricklane and apparently Susie, you were a bit sullen and unfriendly and like, sigh, yes I’m Susie…maybe thats why people didn’t buy everything?And given that you get so many clothes given to you for free, don’t you think you could have just given the stuff to a charity shop and told readers which one?
Hey Susie, I couldn’t make it down on sunday – which charity shop did you take it too? I live locally so might pop in and see if I can see any of your stuff.
xxxx
Yay!! this post is so cool!! You made my day!
http://szynal.com
hahahahaha…i have not a single fond memory of selling shiz at the markets. So I feel your pain (which of course is dulled by all the coin selling old shiz brings in).
I can’t help but wonder if the stuff you sold will reappear on other blogs…creepy, yes. But highly probable 🙂
Great! I really admire you and your blog too. =D Keep on posting girl! =D
Summer
Writers Den
Brown Mestizo
Aww I wish I could’ve visited your semi-criminal clothes stall 🙂 Sounds like a lot of fun. What an experience.
Looks like you had a good sale day. Wish I was there! Would have killed to go through your unwanteds… 🙂
Ruth: At what point did your friend come by?!? I was with my friend sitting down for most of the duration and chatting to her and at no point was I talking in a sullen way….
Hmmm….maybe she came at the point when I was by myself and waiting for the others to get me a drink… because literally that was the only time when I may have looked a little sullen as it was baking hot and I felt a bit ill in the sun without water…? Was it at that point that I may have been frowning? Or was it when the van rolled up and I was a looking a bit perplexed/scared because they might take the stuff away…
I’m actually asking in all seriouness because yesterday was such a great day… I had such a good time…
If I came across that way, I didn’t mean to! I was very happy to get rid of even some of it let alone the bulk of it… or just happy that the BIG ikea bag was reduced to two small bags so that we could physically carry it to the charity shop. It’s Spitalfields Crypt Trust by the way…
http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/directory/1225/30507.php
On the note of charity shops…
I don’t think taking it into a charity shop would guarantee that it will show up there because last time I took my stuff to my local and tried to see if it was hanging there in the next few weeks, turns out that some of my stuff was shifted to other branches where clothes were needed… it’s not really a fixed thing to take it to one particular one…
Seriously…when was I being sullen? This is actually going to be buggning me for ther rest of the day…
so nice………. why aren’t you in Paris……..
Brick Lane gave me the total fear when I went that one time! I felt like a total country oik – not used to all those people and all that noise! It’s such a great idea though, just setting up a sheet and selling stuff, until the White Van Man come around of course! Hope you made lots of money to buy nice new things.
This is where I start to have major London envy YET AGAIN…. sigh. And this is also where I start sounding like a freak who admits that I remember the peach, green and blue dress/skirt on the far right of the third pic- it was, if my memory doesn’t fail me, one of the things that inspired me to start wearing skirts as dresses.
Anyway,it’s good that you got to clear out your wardrobe and make some money out of it too- yay for that!
nice shoes you left behind.. wish I could find shoes like that here on our sidewalks!
Ah thats why I cannot bear to sell my stuff on ebay, what is wrong with stingy people Р£5 for EK shoes is too much!?!!?
Looks like you had fun in the end though and everyone looks rather smug with their purchases. I think its great that everyone is getting into clothes recycling, I just posted about a clothes swap I went to – so much fun! There is nothing like a bargain to cheer you up x
http://fashionpearlsofwisdom.blogspot.com/
I bought those Kishimoto shoes from you in a fit of “goddamn it, if those Tower Hamlet guys are going to chase us off I’m at least going to buy something” anxiety – got loads of compliments off random strangers when I wore them later that day. Also, your boy is a total sweetheart – he walked past my stall later so I waved hi, and he was all smiles and said you managed to sell a lot of stuff. Aww, you’re both very lucky people.
Zing: Ah so you did set up – where did you end up going to then?
Sorry I sold my shoes in a hurry and seemed a bit bewildered and err…incapable of conversation…didn’t know whether I was coming or going!
Awww….bless Steve!
Susie wasn’t being sullen, dumdum. Would your friend have preferred it if she gave a short tap dance (trilling YES! I’M SUSIE!) before she gave out change?
So I should basically move to London because if I have the slightest change to come across such a fabulous stall it’ll be worth all the trouble of moving! I can’t believe your first visitor though, hah! But then again I can be equally grumpy in the morning and later on regret the great bargains I’ve missed because of it…
Susie, please ignore Ruth’s comment -is was her friend who commented on your supposed ‘demeanour’…and we all know how the whispers develop with each telling…
I’m just plain confoooooooosed because I woke up thinking i had a really great day yesterday and was dreading the Monday grind… but now apparently I was ‘sullen’ at one point?!?! Or maybe I have no control of my facial expressions and in my head I was happy as larry but my face didn’t convey that…
Ah we missed this completely! Trust it all went well?
Haha, this is a great post. I was too lazy to come from the other end of London to rummage but I know the stress/satisfaction of selling off your old stuff. There does come a moment when you’re not sure you made the right choice and you have to send off something that you are now convinved you love to an ebay buyer or something, but it’s good when it all adds up at the end. Selling from stalls is uber-stressful even without the law turning up. I would also geek out under those circumstances.
too bad it had to end so early.. but i wish i could have been there! you really had loads of stuff!
I’m GUTTED that Em and I missed this! Would of loved to have seen your big smiley face when we bought something x
Damn girl, you are the coolest! I never know what to expect, and here you are doing so unexpected again!!!
sad i missed it! give us ample heads up the next time you have a sale!!
xKimberly
http://www.kimberlyannmansfield.blogspot.com
Great post! I sometimes sell my handmade jewelry at a market here in Berlin and there are tons of people lining the streets with wares to sell before the market entrance. I wonder if they ever get chased away…probably not though…anything goes here:)
Love reading your blog!
ahhh, i could have SO been there.
I would have bought everything i swear. i freakin love sequins!!!
damn 🙁
ooooo this is exactly what my sister and i NEED to do…we’ve been talking about it since forever…i think this is the push we needed.
thanks!
and i’m glad it went well. 🙂
Even the thought of you being sullen, which I’m sure you weren’t, is adorable.
Apparently I subconsciously give people filthy looks (hence my failure at most of my jobs)even when I think that I’m in a perfectly happy and relaxed mood.
It’s been going on my whole life!
So it is possible but probably not worth worrying about if you had fun.
makes me want to live in london….oh well. i think my feet are bigger than yourse anyway. great pix of the weekend tho!!!
If I was anywhere near your location and your little shoppin’ set up, I would have bought loads from you because I totally dig your fashion-y aesthetic. Can’t wait for your next post.
Damn! i’m so annoyed I missed this! But haha those people always come and tell me to pack away and i’m too scared to resist so I always do it really quickly. Please let us know again if you’re doing another sale!! x
Also, people in Brick Lane always are really stingy. They’ll only buy things that are ¬£1, I swear!? It’s really stupid because you see them with their Miu Miu bags and then they won’t even pay ¬£5 for something that cost ¬£100 originally!
That sounds like so much fun! Too bad you are across the Atlantic, or I would for sure have come out! I’m thinking of selling my handmade hair bands and skirts when I have enough inventory, so thank you for the inspiration to take it to the streets!
omg that sounds like so much fun! i had a garage sale once, and a bunch of my readers came out, it was so nice to see people in real life!
How I wish I was there!!!!!
lol! So cool! So interesting! 🙂
Wow, I wish I lived in London. I could’ve used some of your sequin castoffs!
Great tale! Am impressed by ability to sell in tight circumstances. Hope the shoes got a good home!
PS how many skirts left now 150 or still 200+!
Haha I’d have been paranoid about the van, too. Glad the boyf was there for support.
-meream
so…when is your next one?
i love this post, it’s one of my favourites! the photos are brilliant, even your boyfriend’s blurry pic of you drinking a cuppa (i liked the composition)! 🙂 i wish i was there!!!!
You look cute, Susie! Would have loved to have met you at your ‘stall’…alas, I live in Minneapolis!
Oh! this could be cool and fun, I will try to do this.
-mikee-
Wow, a mad nice experience and the most important, fun!
Glad you clear you wardrobe!
Its so nice to live in London, I love BrickLane!
I was in Hiroshima when you were out in Brick Lane! Darnit darnit darnit!! I would have bought something off you for sure I’ve got my eye on that whatever sequincy gold top/skirt/shorts/bag?!! When are you out again? xxx
Thanks for such an outstanding feed. though i found a better site for the things i need and that too with better discounts.
Will there be another sale Susie??? Please say yes!!!!
Hmmm….I don’t really have plans to do it again as I got rid of most of the stuff…maybe sometime next year again???
I’m fairly sentimental though about my stuff and it took me about four years to get rid of the stuff I did on Sunday… so who knows! Sorry if I didn’t give advance notice but the point was NOT to make a huge fuss about it just in case people were disappointed when they saw the stuff…
I sell my tat all the time at boot sales, whats the big deal? Its just a bootsale so whys everyone saying they can’t believe they missed it??? LOL
wow!I wish I lived in London..:(
I love the silver slippers-that is really great of you that you left them for someone to enjoy!
if you have some clothes left please do another sale or let me know!! i would love to buy some off you 🙂
I love my new Viktor & Rolf dress and my new blue leather short 🙂
thx.
anais
Hahaha, I think I was a bit confused and bewildered (and quite pissed off at the Tower Hamlets guy) too – your shoes cheered me up, though! I was further up the road towards Truman Brewery, a nice guy next to us said the council comes around every morning/afternoon to threaten the sellers. I was going to come down the road and tell you guys, but I figured you would have seen everybody start laying their stuff out again.
Such a sweet story – sounds like you had lots of fun and mixed emotions 🙂
Susie’s not sullen, but she might have been tired as she was out with a group of friends, including me, the night before, till late. Ruth Martin can get stretched! Tee hee. xxx
is that your suitcase in the background? i love it!
sara
I cannot believe I missed this!! Aarrgghh… Possibly for the best as I my bank account would surely have taken a walloping even with your cheap prices. Have you been to the Hackney Wick flea market? Possibly a bit more chilled for selling..?
Love the photos though! And the scary van man would have freaked me too. Wish wish wish I could move to London right away!
did you take your topshop pvc trousers at all to sell??
totally random and off topic but im laughing to myself, because i use my j.lindeberg shopping bag to lug around stuff too.
ah what a fab post! kinda reminds me of old stylebubble days when posts were all of random london life. how funny that this is a normal sunday thing, would love to check it out one day!
So sad I couldn’t be there, it looks like I missed out on a ton of goodies!
Whens your next sale???, i am a Londener & love Brick Lane && your blog x
Boo! I had so wanted to come to your Brick Lane trading day as we were in London at the time, but that was the day we made our journey home to NY ): I see that your coming to NYC for a blogger IFB Blogger conference that I’ll be attending. If you fancy a designer outlet outing (its one of the biggest in the US, possibly the world) let me know and I’ll be happy to take you on a venture.Check out my blog to see the Balenciaga shoes I got for a song, and there are many other designer outlets to check out as well. You’ll go home with some major goodies!
Cheers!
Suzanne
You looked really cool and professional when selling stuffs. I wish I could be there thou 🙂
oh so funny!