If you can ponder it, the 562 Flea swap meet will most likely have it.
By the time the swap meet at the Pacific Coast Campus of Long Beach City College began, there were already over 3000 visitors in attendance. As they strolled through the maze of tents of small business owners, upbeat Latin music played and the aroma of tacos and Korean barbecue filled the air.
The new swap meet offers safe family friendly fun that caters to all sorts of interest.
There are multiple vinyl and CD vendors, but music junkies may want to make a stop at the legendary VIP Records booth, who’s storefront was featured in Snoop Dogg’s music video “Who Am I? (What’s My Name).” Currently, they are also an exclusive retailer for Beyonce’s new album “Renaissance.”
If you are into thrifting or consider yourself a fashionista, this is the place to be, with multiple vendors offering budget options with clothes in bins or piles as low as $5 a piece. Clothing racks were lined with carefully curated vintage collections and reworked clothing sewn to fit ongoing fashion trends.
Plenty of vendors sell unique clothing from their own brands like technicolored crocheted ponchos, solid colored crew neck sweaters with embroidered cartoon characters like Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse.
L.A. Majo makes fun and tasteful accessories, dishes, and trays with resin, glitter, and foliage that comes straight from the business owner’s garden.
“I’ve been doing 562 Flea for a year now and it’s really helped with my business sales…this is my first time at this location and I will be coming every two weeks,” said Kai Weathers, owner of L.A. Majo.
There are also booths for candles, crystal collectors, plant parents, knick knackers, and toy lovers alike.
Trustee Vivian Malauulu represents the area of Long Beach that PCC sits on and led the ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the event’s grand opening.
Malauulu has helped bring the event to life working alongside the Gonzalez family and 562 Flea to organize it and better utilize the PCC campus for the community.
“It’s still growing…we had a soft opening two weeks ago and had 187 vendors and 3700 guests,” said Malauulu.
This time around there were 230 vendors and Malauulu suspects there will be more to come.
Many of these vendors are small business owners who are trying to get their start or rebuild their business after facing the many challenges that COVID-19 has presented.
“One of my goals is to put the community back in community college…many of these vendors had businesses before COVID and they had to close because they couldn’t make it through COVID so we have given them a platform, an opportunity to try and regain some of their business,” said Malaulu.
The next swap meet will take place Sunday from noon- 5 p.m. at the PCC campus of LBCC on the corner of Orange Ave. and PCH. Parking and entry is free.