A Flea Market Survivor’s Tale – Part 2...

It started out simply enough. The questing knight in me had been contemplating on getting some hands-on retail experience by setting up stall at a flea market. Having worked as an employee for umpteen years, I figured a flea market would be the perfect venue to test my entrepreneurial skills. No long term commitment - just rent the space, set up shop for the day, do your thing, and walk away relatively unscathed due to the minimal investment required. Before procrastination paralysis hit me, I got my sister to be my partner in crime. We went ahead to book a stall for the monthly flea market at Sunway Lagoon Club. Of course, we had no idea what we were going to sell but hey, like what Starship sang “Nothing’s gonna stop us now....”

We ended up deciding that we’ll just bake some stuff for our little flea market venture. We figured out the fancy name...we would “brand” ourselves SweeTooth. That’s when the easy part of this whole adventure ended. The subsequent process of selecting what to bake induced several migraines. Having a weakness for acronyms, I came up with the S.M.A.R.T. guidelines to decide what to make :

1. Simple and quick to make – throw in all ingredients, pop in oven and kapow! It’s ready!

2. Marketable – Malaysians are a conservative bunch. Another sister of mine related how she tried a hand at selling ice cream before. She had a bunch of exotic flavours but guess what the best sellers are? Yup, chocolate and vanilla. So, we had to make items which were familiar and yet a bit unique so that people are willing to part with their dough... for some of our dough (ok, ok, bad joke).

3. Ages well – the stuff had to be storable for at least a couple of days...we are ethical business people after all. But without using any added preservatives. After all, being preservative –free was going to be one of our selling points.

4. Real affordable – Pricing was pretty tricky. We couldn’t really push down the costs that low as we had no economies of scale. And we were buying most stuff from the usual supermarkets. So, we had to make sure we kept our prices within range that people are still willing to part with their dough...for some of our dough (not that funny second time round too huh?)

5. Transportable – it would be pretty darn annoying if all the cookies had crumbled by the time we were ready to set up shop...

Our final S.M.A.R.T. selection consisted of cookies, muffins and brownies. I have a confession to make though. I broke the very important S.M.A.R.T rule no 1. I decided to go ahead to make icing-decorated heart-shaped sugar cookies. Due in no small part to my elder’s sister’s advice to do something Valentine related. And also images of lovelorn men queuing up for my cookie was very persuasive too. This was a decision that resulted in many, many, MANY hours of additional back-breaking labour (thanks a lot, sis)....

The Killer Cookies

Four days before the event, I plunged headlong into baking hell. I started out full of steam but became a shrivelled up balloon by day 3. Hellish visions still flash through my mind as I write this....FLASH! That’s me, continuously baking of cookies and muffins till 2 am in the morning... FLASH! That’s me, endlessly icing heart-shaped sugar cookies till 3am...FLASH! Me again, in an never ending cycle of washing up of pots, pans, spoons...FLASH! Whaddya know? Me, packing and re-packing cookies, making sure there were no oily stains on the packing paper...FLASH! Me with the aching feet, spinning head and breaking back...

I could barely walk on flea market day. It was only through great mental strength and will power that I survived. Of course, thoughts of bountiful coffers full of RM didn’t hurt either. Alas! The foot traffic at the flea market was pitiful to say the least. The sparse crowd consisted mostly of harassed parents dropping off kids for swimming, taekwondo, tennis and various Sunday activities. No one came intending to spend money – not after paying up for all those extra-curricular activities for their kids. We tried desperately to make eye contact at everyone who passed. If we were lucky, our victim would feel obliged enough to stop by the stall for a browse. Even launching guerrilla attacks with our sample tray did not work as well as we had hoped. Was it only us or did every other stall have a bad day? It brought relief, albeit a small one, when we noticed sales was pretty poor at all the other stalls too. At the end of the day, we packed up and left...we were in the red. All that hard work for naught...

Before tears start welling up in your eyes, this story does have a happy ending. Friends, colleagues and ex-colleagues digged deep and bought most of our leftover stock, enabling us to make a teeny weeny profit! (very teeny only, guys... I did not rip you off!) . While disheartened that we didn’t become the next big thing after Martha Stewart, we did get some encouraging responses on our products. Some family and friends are now suggesting we try this out a couple more times at busier places – an optimist is even projecting thousands of RM in turnover daily! But can you imagine the amount of baking I’d have to do???? I’m still mulling this over and thinking if my body can withstand another onslaught. On the other hand, as I am pondering this matter, the popular Cantonese saying comes to mind - “Ngo pat yap tei yoke, sui yap tei yoke?”....