Greenfield Weekend Market is a Saturdate staple

One of the good things about living in Flair Condominiums is its proximity to the Greenfield Weekend Market. Almost every Saturday my husband and I would find ourselves here. And this is because of the so many wonderful things about the place.

1. The festive, yet relaxing vibe of the weekend market reminds me of my childhood. When I used to stay hours going around provincial festivals checking out interesting items and food for sale. The group of friends, kids, families and couples having a lovely time in Greenfield are always a pleasure to see.

2. The music from the live quartet is an event in itself. I will spend time and money just to watch them play. The times I saw them, they played instrumental renditions of new and old songs. Any song they played, I loved tremendously. 

3. And of course, the awesome selection of food and what-nots

Suman

I am a sucker for rice cakes and this Suman is soooo good. Plus, the sellers have superb customer service. One time my husband's piece unfortunately had a piece of small rock in it. Thankfully he didn't break a tooth when he bit into it. I mentioned this to the saleslady and without batting an eyelash she gave me four pieces of sumans to replace the sumans I bought the week before. I know it won't affect the fact that there may still be rock pieces in them but still I liked that she was sorry for our experience and replacing them was her way of appeasing me. 

Squid sisig 

Chef Bab's sisig is one of our favorite dinner go-tos. They make different kinds of Sisigs-- chicken, pork, squid, etc. And since my husband only eats chicken and seafood-- it was such a great find for us. We had always gotten the squid. Though I suggest being there upon opening for fresher squid. We had once experienced squid that seemed near expiration already. 

Fresh fruit drinks 

The fresh fruit salad is my husband's choice while for me it is the guyabano. I am a sucker for guyabano. And buying fresh guyabano is always a challenge. Most of the time I end up getting rotten or overiped produce. Having it in juice form is just perfect. 

Pasta 

Almost everything in the pasta stand is tasty, although they were a bit stringy in the meat department. Try to ask for samples for taste tests-- they offer that. 

Books!

The book stand is headed by three lady bookworms. Whatever questions we had about novels and writers, they had answers. They also had 90% of the hard-to-find books my husband is looking for. We are always impressed by how knowledgable they all are and as a result they sold to my husband easily. We now have a number of books waiting to be read at home. 

Classic music records 

Some records are as low as P100! And since my husband has just renovated their old record player-- he ended up buying a lot of affordable music records, too. 

Local artists

Kudos to the organizers of Greenfield Weekend Market for supporting local talents. 

Aside from rice cakes and Sisigs and fruit juices; there are also cakes, dairy products, bagnet and Paella.

4. And last but definitely not the least, the  weekend market is always kept clean.

So, if you don't know what to do on a Saturday night, try Greenfiend Weekend Market. It's worth to experience at least once in your life.

Garage Sale Tips

Our booth is awesome!

I was in my early twenties when I first ran my own bazaar stall. I thought it was cool that I had my own business and I was my own boss. I sold clothes, bags, accessories, toys-- stuff I found in Divisoria that would easily sell. At least I hoped the items would be bought immediately. 

My stall catered to those who were looking for nice affordable pieces and quality may only be third or fourth consideration. I priced merchandise inexpensively, so people would not think twice when buying. Well in most cases that was the case. In the end, I tripled the amount I invested. 

Last week I was given a chance to have my own stall again. There was a condominium-wide garage sale organized in where I live. It was a 3-day event where tenants were allowed to sell dry-goods and food. This was very timely because my husband and I had to dispose a lot of our household items, clothes, shoes and what-nots. 

My husband joined in setting up, manning and closing our booth

I really had fun. Aside from earning from selling our old things, the event reminded me of my childhood. When I used to spend whole days, and sometimes even nights, in provincial fairs and I try out all the interesting food being sold. 

For those planning to hold their own garage sale, these tips might help:

1. Price merchandise competitively low. 

Garage sales have a variety of consumers: those who can afford to buy condominium units, toddlers who easily gets what they want by whispering to mommy or daddy, teenagers who already have allowances, retired and working individuals, household helps. But although different in status, one thing's for sure, all are in the look out for nice inexpensive items. Remember that your main goal for holding a garage sale is to dispose items you don't need anymore and somehow get a few bucks from it. My most expensive apparel was P150, majority was P100, and lowest was P10.

2. Be flexible with prices 

For each item, know how low you can go. Example for a 100 peso apparel, you can go as low as 80. So when someone asks for a discount, give it. Be extra flexible if your consumer is a househelp. It will mean a lot to them and make you feel good inside. 

3. Make sure prices are easily seen

This is a no brainer. Put your signages big and bold. 

Not my signages, but my neighbor stall's. Mine was just hand written on the spot. 

4. Display nicest, most eye catching pieces upfront

You have to make visitors look at your stall and make them think that there is something in your stall worth checking out. 

My (used to be) colorful dress that doesn't fit me anymore displayed up front

5. Display all items for sale

So first you try to get their attention, now you make sure that their experience will be smooth. Not everyone has time to go through your items on a pile. Make it easy for them by hanging clothes, displaying items. 

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6. Know all the items you have

Just like any salesman, may it be for gadgets, automobile or real estate, you should know what you are selling inside and out. This will come in handy when customers are looking for something specific. And you want to proactively offer to a repeat customer.

The view from inside our booth. Good thing I love people watching. 

7. Set up early and close late

Be available as much as you can. You'll never know when a big buy will come. 

8. Make sure that someone is manning the booth at all times

Same as number 7, you wouldn't want to miss a possible sale.

I invited my friend Tet to share our booth and she made a number of sales, too.

9. Be approachable

This can be challenging because there are different kinds of people. I usually just stay on the sidelines and talk when asked. Don't go asking what the customer is looking for. That is annoying. But always be genuine and warm when approached. 

10. Have fun! 

Well, apply this in everything you do and life would be brighter.

Peace out! No to clutter. Sell your old stuff!