What I Didn't Buy: A Pecan Park Flea Market Excursion. Vintage and Mod Galore.

Pecan Park boasts the claim of being Jacksonville's largest flea market, and with its winding indoor corridors and never-ending barrage of object-stimulation I believe it. It practically threatens to swallow the diminutive, cozy RV park next door where cross-country travelers can escape Florida's oppresive summer heat in their small pool after browsing 750 small store fronts in labyrinth to their left. I didn't come home with much, here's what I didn't buy:

I'd heard of this record store in Pecan Park before I might have even heard of the market, it was recommend after I posted I was on the hunt for Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall".

This was the first hint that this is a secret vintage shopping spot, everything before this was a lot of used VHS/Made in China Offerings.

My mom packed Pete the Chihuahua for our trip, I love this little dog. He was the runt of our litter and he was born afraid of everything. YEP, he's full grown and the size of a New York Sewer Rat. We love your silly face, Pete.

Mugs! My nemesis! I have two cabinet shelves of cups and mugs that need to move over to eBay where they're more likely to sell. I always pass them whenever I can. Too many, and they don't sell locally. Though they do fetch a pretty penny online.

I've only sold one of my three-fondue-pot collection so this guy had to stay behind. Love the color.

This bring back any memories of late 80s outdoor lounging? This brings back early childhood memories of everything in the household being sepia-toned and tacky.

As you can see Pecan Park is very divided into different shop spaces, the prices are high like many of the less "junky" flea markets readers tell me are prevalent where they live. It's a "retail" environment that doesn't help me as a reseller, prices are too high for me to resell without having to really jack-up prices. There's a mix of old ad new all around. Made in China juxtaposing Mid Century Modern.

Not For Sale for good reason, look at that atom on the dial! Gorgeous atomic era piece.

I do well with those Smurfs glasses online but left those and the desired camera behind, too expensive.

Charming breakables. Mom really liked the beautiful 1920s-40s chicken you can barely see to the upper right there. Love that expression.

I liked the mouse and seat here. This stall had a lot of beauties but all priced out of my range.

I had that same pottery teapot with the green glaze mixed in there. More pretty breakables to admire.

And yet more breakables. I liked the little animals and yet another chicken pitcher, this time in blue.

And for my fellow pop culture nerds there was on requisite toy stand. These X-Men toys are from my generation (now vintage, the Oldz, I can Feels it). I loved that series, the saturated primaries and secondaries and bold typography from boy's cartoons of this era have a huge influence on Thrift Core's branding style. (And also literally put the "Core" in "Thrift Core"- I was inspired by Hardcore kid's shows.) In retrospect I wouldn't have picked the FIRST name I thought of (always a bad idea) but four years later I'm stuck with it.

He had a lot of beautiful pop culture goodies and in-box toys.

And some of the oldest comics I've ever seen. This is the oldest Batman comic I've ever seen in person, absolutely beautiful. Admired observing how different the paper quality is from today's comics, matt vs. glossy. Definitely prefer matt old comics.

And requisite manly toy box Roman Orgy! There's one happening at every flea market. Right before our children's eyes!

And more X-Men! Did you watch/read X-Men as a kid? My favorites (who could pick one) were Nightcrawler, Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Storm and Cyclops. Damn that series was good in the nineties.

And right outside this stall, a class case of cow and alligator skulls and other bits of beasts.

And a glass case with more beautiful action-figure goodness.

There was touristy shell-galore in one stand. A friend in Philly would kill to see this "Tropical" display.

This ignited my not-so-secret desire to own a tropical hut full of mid century modern tiki goodness and tacky shell and shark galore. The Kahuna from Gidget style.

A beautiful assortment of orbital stimulation. Love that hangings shark.

All of this brings me back to my early tacky Florida adoration when moving here as a 9-year-old. Makes sense to have touristy fun with an RV park next door.

And had to stop for a photo of this hideous knock-off Pikachu-thing with Pimp-Hat wearing Tweety Bird riding a boat on the front? Brilliantly bad, I almost want this monstrosity now.

And damn, phone galore. I was looking for phones to diversity my stock, may come back for some once I've sold more inventory.

Loved this gorgeous huge string-ship, I've seem them on plaques but never stand-alone. He was $100 so he stayed behind.

Boat shared space with this beautiful piece! Couldn't have it of course but enjoyed looking.

And across the way, a clandestine cluttered cubbyhole of curiosities. So much cooking ware and random vintage bits.

I love looking at vintage bottles, but who buys these? Big collectors online for these I assume? They're certainly expensive locally wherever I go. There's something so charming about seeing mundane things in retro-style that drives casual vintage shoppers crazy.

Really loved this mirror and it wasn't too badly priced at $20-$30ish but it ended up staying. Maybe another day if it's still around.

More steins I'm forbidden to possess. This stall had a lot of Mid Century Modern glassware and quality vintage pieces. She had quite the collection.

I especially love that case back there, beautiful shape and nice that it's white, too. Great for home vignettes.

So many beautiful shapes and colors in this collection. With some war memorabilia mixed in.

I explored this booth for a while wanting to bring home a lot of it but unable to afford it. I did end up leaving with two (PRICEY) pieces you'll see next Monday.

Loved these ash trays but as I've discussed before, those tend to sit way too long so I left them behind.

She had very nicely organized displays, loved the pop culture glasses, those sold well for me online.

And enjoyed the pattern on this casserole dish perched atop a burner to keep a dish warm while entertaining.

Really enjoyed the pensive/hesitant expressions on the little fish salt and pepper shakers, too.

I was told the groovy leaping fawn there was not a vase but a bottle missing its cork. Love the atomic legs on the silver serving set there, too. Fussy meets streamlined modern.

I desperately wanted to bring this fawn home but the lowest she'd go was $15. Could you imagine anyone buying this form me for $30 to $45? I left her behind.

Loved the car mirror here, helmet and gorgeous coffee caddy. This booth inspired me to hunt more to find some really good retro finds.

I looooved this retro kitty Halloween sound-maker but at $25.00 it had to stay behind.

This was one of the largest shops, full of beautiful colors glass breakables and paperback books. They stayed busy with people buying books. Not a bad shop model.

I was enchanted by one of his glass front cases full of colorful glass pieces under a black light.

Gorgeous rainbow collection of old vases and pitcher. I just noticed that adorable one with eyeballs in the back!

And look, even Kawaii things from Japan to temp you! There was a small outdoor area with vendors that had some of the lower-priced wares I'm used to. I'm sure in the summer that number greatly increases. A good place to go for inspiration but not the best hunting grounds. It had me yet again dreaming of having some kind of little spot of my own to sell vintage and vegan treats. Maybe someday...

What vintage goods would have tempted you the most? The deer tempted, I'm glad I left it behind though.

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