Meet Donald Wolff of Wolff’s Flea Market

Today we’d like to introduce you to Donald Wolff.

Donald, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My Brother David and I have shopped at Flea Markets since we were very young. We were working inside the then Rosemont Horizon (Now the Allstate Arena), when we heard the big outdoor northern suburbs flea market (at the Double drive-in theatre in Wheeling) was going to close down. Walking out into the Horizon’s parking lot one day, we literally thought – Wow, this would be a great place for a flea market. A large parking lot and right on the tollway! After talking to the village of Rosemont, we rented the lot and opened our flea market in 1991. Never having been in that business, but having some business savvy from our pasts, it ended up working out well for us. David and I continued to work our full time jobs back then as we opened the flea market, but eventually left those jobs and ran the flea market full time. I must say that Rosemont must have saw something beyond the Wolff’s running a flea market. Rosemont has always been very business minded. And I now think they actually saw the nice upside for the town and the neighboring businesses before we did. We now bring upwards of 700 vendors and 12,000 shoppers into the town each and every Sunday April through October. All those people that were not coming into Rosemont now are. And after the flea market, they shop and eat in many of the town’s stores and restaurants. Bringing added sales and taxes into the town. It wasn’t easy, but we did figure out a formula. We began with 100 vendors and 1,000 shoppers and now have 700 vendors and 12,000 shoppers. Filling every inch of the open land available at the Arena.

Has it been a smooth road?
With business acumen on both our parts and help from family, we were able to grow this into the largest all outdoor flea market in the Chicago area. We could be larger if the Arena had more land actually, Beginning with 100 vendors and 1000 shoppers, we realized we needed to grow incrementally, a larger amount of vendors and less shoppers wouldn’t work. A larger amount of shoppers and less vendors wouldn’t work. They needed to grow simultaneously and at the same rate, or one of the two groups would go to other markets. Along the way, we have also had several indoor locations, capitalizing our strong vendor and shopper following. The latest version – Our second market is in Palatine at 1775 N. Rand Rd. We hope to someday relocate back in our old area of Melrose Park, or the surrounding suburbs. Melrose Park being the home of our longest indoor location prior to Palatine. Which brings us to now and the shift in the retail landscape. As many chains and businesses are being forced to shut down and close their storefronts because of the surge in online shopping, we have not felt that affect. Nor will we. There will always be a market for a flea market. Flea Markets needs can’t be duplicated on the internet. There will always be vendors. There will always be people looking to supplement their incomes. There will always be people with an entrepreneur spirit. What better way than to pay a small fee to run a business and have thousands of people walk by your store? No corner storefront can do that for you. And the costs of a storefront are massive to a small business. We cover most of their expenses for them. And the public will always want to come to a flea market for the bargains, actually seeing the merchandise, being able to negotiate, the thrill of the hunt, simply the bargains! Where do most of the sellers on places like eBay find their stuff – Flea Markets, swap meets garage sales. We fill many voids.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are a Flea Market. We specialize in giving the average person the opportunity to operate a small business. From that, many have gone on to bigger operations. Their roots are at our market. Or where else can someone have a garage sale and have 1,000s of shoppers come by? Not even at their homes can that happen. We are known as a very fun and family oriented market. If you walk by every booth at our market, you have walked 3 miles! Wolff’s exercise program. We have a food court, we have entertainment, we have new merchandise at below wholesale prices, we have antiques, collectibles, garage sale, farmers market and so on. We do not allow items such as pornography, counterfeits, weapons to bought or sold there. Which allows us to be very family oriented. We are most proud of the fact that many tell us we are the best flea market in the Chicago area. I am often stopped when I am just out and about during the week doing my regular day to day away from the flea market routine by people that have seen me at the flea market. They see me week in and week out at the flea, which is kind of cool actually.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Chicago is a great city for a flea market. It’s so diverse, which is exactly who shops at our flea markets – You’re just as likely to see a Mercedes in our parking lot as a Chevy. You’re as likely to see an out of State license plate as you are to see an Illinois license plate. We are a regional draw. It would be difficult to open a flea market in Chicago, as the land needs are very big and that’s not easy to find in Chicago. Belonging to the NFMA (National Flea Market Association), we can measure ourselves and our markets up to flea markets and swap meets across the country. We meet yearly at a convention, and it’s a great time to discuss the industry trends, issues, other markets ways of doing business, etc. David Wolff is the current Vice President, and next year will be the president of that national organization. Their website is fleamarkets.org.

Pricing:

• Adults $2.00 to shop
• Seniors and Children ages 6 to 12 are $1.00
• Children ages 6 and under are free
• Parking is free
• $40.00 to sell

Contact Info:

• Address: Business Address is 6920 N. Mannheim, Rosemont, IL 60018 and
  1775 N. Rand Rd., Palatine, 60074
• Website: www.wolffs.com
• Phone: 847-524-9590
• Email: info@wolffs.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wolffsfleamarket/
• Facebook: facebook.com/wolffsfleamarkets
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/wolffsflea
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/135sharw

Image Credit:
Image of Flea Market overview – Steven Koress

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