Zerns related.... Im digging this response I left out of a thread down there to see if anyone who used to go to Zerns agrees or disagrees or has any input with my assessment of what happen to Zerns of the past few decades. Here goes: Been going to Zerns as a son of a vendor who has been in Zerns since 1976. The Jewelry stand is still there and run by my sister. Early late 70s and all of the 1980s memories of Zerns included: a carnival atmosphere with crowds so thick it was hard to walk down the isle or midway without dodging people constantly. HUGE variety of unique stores and vendors. Midway PACKED with people and big wooden tables selling their old stuff out of the backs of their cars. Friday night car auction, Saturday night farm animal auction, Sat morning junk out of the back of your car auction, all day and night there was Ricks Auction, outdoor plant auctions, hobby shops, lots of food vendors, produce galore, flea market stands everywhere. Rent was reasonable and every spot was taken. If you wanted a spot, good luck, you usually had to wait weeks. Indoor stands sold from old vendor to new vendor for thousands of dollars (thats on top of rent). Management would try to make up new spots for people on the outer edges of the market to accommodate all the vendors and sellers. There were so many people Zerns had its own little police force. It was marketplace commerce at its finest. This was under ownership and management of Ben Silver. Everyone loved Ben. He was fair and knew business and people. Ben passed and his daughter took over. She wanted to clean up the market. She got rid of the car auction, apparently it attracted a rough crowd from Philadelphia who happen to spend a LOT of money at the market. She got rid of the animal auction. Farmers stopped going. She did something to piss off ALL of the Amish vendors and they ALL left at once. She kicked out the Joke store, the gun shop, a knife shop, food vendors that competed with their favored fast food vendor (Little Richards). Management would not allow new vendors that competed with favored existing vendors and even bullied certain existing vendors that competed with the favored (like Pat who sold little hardware items out under the shed for 18 years there, zerns management was trying to force him out after Lous hardware moved into a big spot inside). As vendors left and rent money disappeared, she jacked up the rent of everyone else, which forced even more vendors to leave. As vendors and auctions disappeared, so did customers. Ricks Auction closed up. The outdoor midway no longer had flea market Saturdays. Farmers selling what they grew became more of a rarity thanks to high rent. Rent became too high for any business that didnt make a killing. Did you know selling cheap chinese imports makes a lot of money? All of the crowd attracting big aspects of the market disappeared. My dad went from doing ok for a small vendor but that gradually changed to barely making rent some days let alone make a living. Ben Silvers daughter did all of these management changes from the comfort of her home in Hawaii. The market is a mere shadow of what it once was. Eventually I stopped going. Too sad to see and it and it now has no entertainment value any longer compared to the days a few decades ago.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 21:12:37 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015