I had never been here before. I had heard good things about Trader's Village, and their website looked like they had a wide variety of goods. I am a fan of flea markets, you can find some vintage home decor, antiques, and all kinds of random buys there. I have been to many a flea market, all over the country, including in the south. So I was expecting a flea market. I figured, heck, with having to pay $3 to park my car, this place must be pretty good!! My husband wanted to go too, so we drove there the Saturday after Black Friday. (If this isn't a Small Business Saturday, I don't know what is.) Trader's Village is labeled as one of the world's largest flea markets. They're half right. Should be more truthful in their tagline though, and say "World's largest garage sale." Because the quality of goods looked like half of the residents of San Antonio and surrounding areas went into their attics and basements, took out all the old crappy junk they didn't want anymore, rented a space at Trader's Village, and put it up for sale. I only saw variety in maybe 3 stores. Everything else was basically the same. We left before we even went through the whole thing, because I couldn't bare to walk down another wind-tunnel row of shops pushing the same crap on you as the one next to it, and the one next to that, and the one next to that. Trader's Village, "World's largest stash of overpriced crap." The rides do look fun for the kiddos though, and they were having some kind of present giveaway and visits with Santa at the main visitor's center or whatever it's called, but we walked around there for 2 hours and never even found the place. Before we were getting ready to leave, I spotted a NY Style Pizza Stand. I am both Italian and from NY, so my heart skipped a beat over the fact that I may finally have found something to make my $3 parking worthwhile. I ordered 2 slices of Supreme pizza. They told me I'd have to wait 20 minutes for the supreme to cook, because they were out. Odd, I thought, for a PIZZA STAND that only sells 4 different types of pizzas (the alternatives being cheese, pepperoni, and sausage.) So I said, okay, I'll just have 2 slices of pepperoni then, and my husband ordered 2 slices of sausage. This was around 1pm, so not quite a lunch rush, but enough that by now, they can predict how many people to expect. They were quick to take our money, about $17 for the 4 average-sized slices of pizza and 2 medium sodas, and then direct us around to the other side of the stand to wait in a line behind about 25 other people. WTF, I was thinking. Normally, at food stands and EVERYWHERE ELSE IN LIFE, when I pay for food or a product, I continue to stand in the same location (register, checkout stand, etc.) and then receive the food or product I paid for. Well, the reason I was in a line with 25 people was because they ran out of ALL the kinds of pizzas. Isn't the point of a food stand to have food ready for customers quickly when they arrive? Not to mention you have FOUR. FREAKIN. KINDS. OF. PIZZA. It's not like we custom ordered anything, and they are basic! After 20 minutes of waiting (and only moving up 3 spaces in line), I got sick of it and went back around to the register window and got my money back. We then took our money to Goomba's Pizza, and got an entire large pepperoni pizza for the price of what the 4 slices would have cost us. Oh, and they had the pizza ready when we got there.
Long story short, the reason this place gets 2 stars instead of 1? My husband did get some accessories for his new cell phone (case, charger, screen protector, car holder, etc.) for 3 times less than the mall or the cell phone stores were charging, and he bought a cute set of parakeets that now keep me company in our living room. Yes folks, at Trader's Village, you can buy cell phone accessories and cheap knockoff Chinese goods right next to a "shop" that sells live animals. Ah, what a world we live in!
I may have been able to bump this place to 3 stars, if it wasn't for the pizza incident, and if this place had been labeled "garage sale" or ANYTHING else that would not have made my expectations high for a flea market. I came in expecting a flea market and got a bunch of worthless crap. I am the kind of woman that could find a way to spend $100 on myself in a men's clothing store. If you give me money, I will spend it. (lol!) But at this place, I had to force myself to try to find something to buy, to make my gas to get there and parking fee worthwhile. If that doesn't say something, then you need to go see this tragedy for yourself. read more