Swapmeet Strategies

I think this is suitably on-topic for The List: I have been a swapmeet/junk store/surplus rat all my life. There are three or four swapmeets I attend regurlarly. Here in SoCal, the TRW hamfest is probably the best-known, but there are three or four others just as 'good'. At TRW, there are two distinct periods of activitiy which I have deemed the "Shark" phase (at the opening of the meet to Buyers) and the "Vulture" phase (at the end of the meet when the Junk gets Cheap) with a relative lull in the middle hours. BUT: A secret to getting a few 'scores', is to be around when the sellers are gathering/unloading/standing around in the dark waiting for the coffee truck to set up. If you can finagle your way into that area, early before the hordes of buyers arrive... in my experience that is where some of the best deals are made. At TRW, the sellers are 'staged' into a lage parking lot first, then allowed into their spaces a line at a time from the staging area. People start getting there about 5:30 or so, and the sellers move to their spaces at 7:00, then the meet opens at 7:30. In that staging area one can have first pick of a lot of the goodies.. Your Milage May Vary. Cheers John