FleaMarketZone has already reported on the City of Memphis pushing the Memphis Flea Market, known as “The Big One,” out of its current home in the Mid-South Fairgrounds and into a new home at the Agricenter International, a site on the edge of the city. But now it seems that another flea market situated at the Agricenter, the Shelby Farms Flea Market, is being evicted to make room for The Big One.
According to Shelby Farms market manager Brian Ellsworth, that’s true. “We are getting shut down.”
“Any good business does not necessarily want to move,” Ellsworth says. “But the bottom line is that the Agricenter made a contract with Delaware North, the parent company of the Memphis Flea Market. And what they wanted in the contract was exclusivity on the site. We were given a verbal contract, but it wasn’t written or signed off on. We didn’t foresee this happening.”
One Shelby Farms vendor reported the same thing. “There’s a ‘no-compete’ agreement, so the two can’t be there at the same time,” says Paul Pachmayer of ParacordPaul.com. A 20-year veteran flea market vendor, Pachmayer has run a booth at the Shelby Farms Flea since the market started, last year.
Pachmayer would like to stay at the Agricenter and get a space at The Big One, but he is having trouble. “We’ve called them a few times, no there’s answer from them. They want to take care of their own vendors first. There’s no waiting list. I have no idea if we can get in there.”
He expressed disappointment that the move would displace the Shelby Farms Flea Market. “It’s a shame we’re going to lose that venue.”
But vendors like Pachmayer have been vocal about their desire for a new venue, and that’s convinced the Shelby Farms Flea Market to try to find a new site. “If we don’t move our market,” says market manager Ellsworth, “it’s not that Memphis loses a market, but that our vendors lose money.”
The desire to serve his vendors has Ellsworth actively seeking a new location, and he may have some good news very shortly, he says. FleaMarketZone will update this story as soon as more news breaks.
A spokesperson for the Memphis Flea Market still declines to comment, and FleaMarketZone has not yet been able to reach the City Attorney’s Office for the City of Memphis either by phone or e-mail.