Whether your business idea involves selling a product or offfering a service, flea markets are great places to test your business concept part-time while holding on to your full-time job.  Unless your job involves week-end hours, one of the reasons flea markets are attractive is that their main hours are on weekends, with some markets supplementing those hours during our "snowbird season" with Friday hours.

While I hope you'll excuse the pun of scratching your itch at the flea market, in ancient flea markets scratching was apparently literal for shoppers.  According to Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org),  "The original flea market is likely to be the Marché aux puces of Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris. It is a large, long-established outdoor bazaar, one of four in Paris. They earned their name from the flea-infested clothing and rags sold there. From the late 17th century, the makeshift open-air market in the town of Saint-Ouen began as temporary stalls and benches among the fields and market gardens where ragpickers exchanged their findings for a small sum."

What purports to be "the granddaddy of all flea markets" was founded in Silicon Valley California in 1960.  Claiming to be the largest open-air flea market in the U.S. it covers 120 acres and has over 6,000 vendors and draws over 80,000 visitors a week.  It is the most sucessful "no tech" business in Silicon Valley!  It's history can be found at http://www.sjfm.com/history.html.

From food to furniture, tools to tax services, you can find virtually anything at a flea market.  Some markets, like the Market of Marion (www.themarketofmarion.com) are mega markets, covering all ranges of goods and services with certain aisles specialized by product.  Another type of market is smaller and may specialize in only certain goods like antiques and collectibles (www.websterfleamarket.net).  If you are searching for a flea market that is appropriate to your goods or services, a listing of Florida flea markets can be found at  www.keysfleamarket.com/fleamarket/state/florida.htm.

I think that flea markets are not recognized as being a form of a business incubator.  They allow entrepreneurs the opportunity to test a business idea with a minimal outlay of cash while providing numerous support services.  While these services vary from market to market, they generally include marketing and advertising, sales tax filing, liability insurance, utilities, security (for when the market is closed), and receipt of deliveries and/or mail.

An Internet search will yield information about successful businesses that were started in flea markets as well as numerous sites with advice on starting your flea market business.  Additional small business help can be found at www.sba.gov, or in Ocala from either the Small Business Development Center at 622-8763, or from SCORE at 629-5959.