Shopping Report: Bussey's Flea Market

I think in the grand scheme of things, flea markets take us back to the roots of our ancestors, regardless from what continent we might originate. Certainly in Europe, Asia, The Middle East and Africa, you see people doing their shopping at markets, and not just for vegetables or fish, but for stuff too.

And there is a culture of sorts for people who make the flea market a weekend commitment, the people who have the same booth each week, selling crafts or things they make with their own hands, as well as for the people who visit every weekend, hoping to find the right thing to hang on the wall in the garage. You also have family who decides to load up the contents of their attic and see if they can make a little more than had they just opened the garage door and held a yard sale.

My wife and I don't go nearly as often as we did years ago, but we still like to make several trips a year to Bussey's Flea Market on IH-35 North in Schertz. We went Saturday, just for a quick stroll around the grounds and I took a few pictures that might motivate you to visit the next time you get a chance.

Probably the most important thing you should know, and quite frankly, the thumbs up versus thumbs down on any flea market attempt is the status of cold adult beverages and whether or not they are served. In the case of Bussey's, we do have a thumbs up, and it is therefore safe to proceed.

Now I have been to flea markets where the majority of vendors are people that want to open there own version of The Dollar Store, but don't want to have to pay the price of rent in a strip mall. It helps to take a crash course in Korean when visiting these flea markets. The one on Highway 16 South, between San Antonio and Poteet is a perfect example. You will often find vendors at these locations who also double as circus freaks for other sources of income. I say this with the utmost respect to full-time employed circus freaks, who are an important part of our nations economy.

At the Highway 16 flea market, there used to be an old guy that ran a merry go round. Probably 10 years ago or more, he made the mistake of yelling at my niece for probably a valid reason, but my brother-in-law, Junior, was none to pleased with this display of rude behavior and threatened no less than to physically assault the man for cause. Since that time, including the last time we went, over a year and a half ago, Junior would see the old man at the merry go round ride and stare him down. Because our visits had become so sporadic over the years, it is very likely that this poor man had long ago lost any recollection of the reason why my brother-in-law gives him the evil eye for a minute, then calmly moves on. Ah, the pitfalls of life as a carny.

But back to more pleasant things at Bussey's. If you are looking for the latest CD's of your favorite artist, you can get them here for a reasonable price. I'm sure these are all original copies and the artists receive due compensation.

At Bussey's you will find a full range of country folk, and friendly people like this one seemingly Native American fellow who sells incense and relics and knives and secret spiritual products and stuff. I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but the secret product that his incense has strangely seems to smell a bit like reefer, but I could be wrong. I'm sure the ladies visiting his booth have come for the ancient Native American cure for glaucoma.

Many of the best things to look through are what I like to call other people's junk. If you dare to brave the heat of South Central Texas, you will find tables out in the open air. This is where the good deals are found. I once bought a really nice antique chair from a lady who was selling all of her husbands stuff before the divorce papers could stop her. I asked her how much she wanted for the chair. She said $50.00. I turned and started to walk away as such a substantial investment might cut into my funds needed for the aforementioned cold beverages. She then stopped me and asked how much I would give her for the chair. I didn't want to offend her because the chair was clearly worth way more than the $50.00 she was asking. Her helpful best freind advised me that it was a divorce sale and she suggested I offer up $15.00. I did and the two ladies high-fived one another, convinced the soon to be ex-husband would be boiling mad over my good deal.

You can't go wrong with used books or magazines from a flea market. I mean, aside from the worries of somebody else's germs and such, why buy new? And as soon as you finish reading those old copies of Life, you can sell them at your garage sale as "collectors editions" and nobody will know you got them at Bussey's for a dime.

Ready to get back to school, or you have a bunch of ankle biters that need some Shakespeare in their lives? For fifty cents, they'll be on the street corner reciting The Bard as if they had paid attention in Alternative School.

Okay, I'm no trophy hunter, but let's be honest - it would be cool to tell everyone that you went on a big safari to Hondo or some place exotic like Cotulla. Why not spring for a few stuffed Bambi's and make your family dining room look like dinner at the Water Buffalo Lodge?

Don't tell me you didn't have a Snoopy suitcase the first time you took a trip on the aeroplane. Oh sure, they poked fun at you all the way through Basic Training, but you know your Military Training Instructor was just jealous that he didn't have one. If he had shopped at Bussey's he'd have had his own too.

My wife and I once took visiting family to a night of dancing at the club. One of her cousins was pretty enthusiastic about the fact that for 50 cents, you could get shots of various men's cologne sprayed upon your body like one of those machines at the car wash dispensing NuCar smell on a beat-up Chevy backseat. And he spared no expense trying all the available brands.

My friends, why empty your pockets of lose change one spray at a time when you can get the entire bottle (less any that Grandpa may have used during WWII) for a buck?


Finally, I ask you, where can you get fine Mexican dinnerware and a handsome Seeing Eye Dog all in one location? Of course, Bussey's Flea Market.

Do you have a flea market that I should know about? Tell me about your favorite circus freak stories.

New Store Report: Wal Mart at 1604 & Potranco

I'm always a sport for checking out something new. So on our way to the HEB Plus on Potranco for our Sunday ritual, my wife suggested that we stop into the new Wal Mart that has just opened up on the other side of 1604.

By Google Map standards, both the new HEB Plus (Inside of 1604 on Potranco) and the Wal Mart (Outside of 1604 on Potranco) are too new to give you an exact satellite view, but if you click here, you can see a map of the place and just imagine it!

So anyway, if you are keeping track, the friendly developers of San Antonio are creating new Bandera Pointe-like intersections all around 1604. For example, my intersection of interest is 1604 and Culebra. We already have an HEB, Chili's, SSFCU, a Home Depot, a Walmart and an assload of other stores I can't remember or expect to ever shop in. Plus, they are getting ready to build a Jim's, a Best Buy, a Dicks Sports and another assload of stores on the other side of HEB.

Moving on down to Potranco, they have the aforementioned Wal Mart and HEB Plus, and they are building a Kohls, more banks than you can shake a stick at and I hear, a movie theater.

So, I'm cool with all this. Aside from the aquifer recharge not far from here, what is all this development going to hurt? Nothing like a lot more cut down trees to help with the additional vehicle traffic and smog, and of course, the rising blood pressure from sitting in traffic watching the stupid girl in front of you put on make-up while talking on the cell phone. But enough of my environmentalist-like babbling.

I'm happy to report that the new Wal Mart was efficient, clean and full of the usual people who shop there; people like me, happy to save a buck while getting to see the free showing of circus-freaks who also frequent the place.

I'm sorry to report I didn't get a picture (my wife insisted I holster the camera fearing the subject may have a gun), but the people parked in their well-used Chevy Celebrity were taking a break before entering the store at 11AM on a Sunday morning. Who says you can't purchase beer before noon around here? I was amused that the pleasant lady was making sure that she got her half of the quart sized Miller High Life before turning it over to her man while she carefully unstrapped the newborn from the car seat. Ah, young couples in love.

Anyway, our trip into the Wal Mart was brief as we only had one quick item to pick up and it was off to HEB Plus. But I did notice as I was pulling out of the lot back onto Potranco that they were building some sort of strip center in across the street. A little note of caution for the people who happen to live in those neighborhoods just beyond there: Two-lanes ain't gonna cut it. I'd start planning the double-decker toll road now, or you people are going to be stuck like chuck in a year or so.

Oh, no need for a long report about our trip to HEB Plus - you know the drill by now: We go in, we see Carol, the cooking lady who gives us the samples of seriously delicious food. I mean - she was giving out awesome Fillet Mignon on Sunday. You ought to go there just for that.

Anyway, like normal we got our usual fruits and veggies and such and stopped in Spoonz Grill for a nutritious Ice Cream based Malted shake. It may have had vitamins in it. I think.

Anyway, while waiting, my wife asked the man at the register for a cup so she could get a water while waiting.

If you have ever seen those fountain drink dispenser's, they usually have at least one spigot where they serve a fruit drink or something non-carbonated. In this spigot, the fruit syrup is mixed with regular water vice the carbonated water from tanks. This is important to understand to appreciate this story.

So, of course, my wife went over to the fountain machine, got some ice then started looking for the little tab which usually sticks out next to the fruit drink. You see, if you push this little tab, you can get fresh water without the fruit juice. This beats paying a buck for a bottle of water or placing the mouth that kisses my kids next to the germ infested water fountain near the restrooms, which more often than not, has been the scene of some sordid homeless person spit bath, or worse, a young prankster violating it in some unspeakable fashion, just waiting for someone to come on by for a refreshing turn of the silver handle.

We'll pass on that, thanks.

So you have to understand, I'm leaning up against the shopping cart staring into space thinking of the fine lunch I just had, courtesy of Carol and Mr. Butt, and my wife is walking from one end of the drink counter to the next, looking for the little tab for fresh water. When she interrupts me from my post lunch haze to report that there is no sign of water, I of course immediately begin inspecting the same very machines that she herself has investigated only seconds earlier.

(I have done a quick search of national and local Blogs, and thankfully, nobody snapped a picture of us looking like complete circus-freaks, or at least they have yet to post same on Al Gore's World Wide Web.)

Just as I was prepared to seek the highest ranking Spoonz employee or possibly a member of management to make a big stink about how HEB was trying to force people into purchasing bottled water at prices not unlike a visit to Disney, my wife was able to stop me from a certain embarrassment that might have made the KENS-5, 10 PM newscast. (Is it just me, or has Karen Grace had a boob job?)

Turns out that the sneeky people at HEB Plus had forgone the standard "water only" tab placed near the fruit drink on most fountain dispensers, and instead, offered a shiny, free-standing water and ice dispenser.

So then we collected our Malts and promptly left, not looking back for fear that people sitting in the dining area may have witnessed the momentary loss of our minds.