Tarzana Flower Shops

Tarzana CA News

Dec 28, 2016

Bargain hunters find holiday gifts at Ventura swap meet

Davis said she keeps the emphasis on vintage items. “We mostly have antique and used items,” said Davis, who currently lives in Tarzana, but is moving to Camarillo. She also runs the weekly swap meets Thursdays at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara. With the holidays looming, more vendors want spaces at the market. Davis said all 300 available spots at the fairgrounds parking lot are filled with people who pay between $25 and $35 to show and sell their wares. “I got into swap meets because I got tired of selling. I decided I’d do weekday swap meets, rather than try to compete with the big weekend swap meets,” said Davis, who has been running the Ventura Fairgrounds swap meet for eight years. Dan Redburn of Oxnard brings his small dogs Lulu and Spike to the market weekly, where the dogs are favorites among the vendors. “They just look around and they have so many friends. They really like the ones who give them treats,” said Redburn, who looks for knives at the swap meet. He’s hoping to get his wife a Christmas present. “My wife collects vintage jewelry and I’d like to find something she doesn’t already have.” Some shoppers were looking for holiday gifts, while others were drawn in by the variety of items available. Alexa Rae and Corey Steven of Ventura like to frequent the market, enjoying the unique items. “We’re mostly looking. I’ve been looking for, but have never found, a good camera. But we like all the funny things. If I bought everything I imagine I would want to buy, my house would look like ‘Hoarders,' " Rae said. Hector Alonzo of Santa Paula enjoys coming to the swap meet to sell the assortment of household and other items he gathers at garage sales. “There are a lot of collectors who come to the market to buy things. How well you do depends on what you have,” Alonzo said as he prepared the odds and end he had for sale... (Ventura County Star)