Spring Valley Swap Meet

As crowded as this place gets its always an adventure. You can find pretty much anything your looking for, some new– some used. I always get the clamatos when I go! I crave them like no other. I always make sure to go to the stands that are towards the front because they make them for me without cueritos (pig skin… gross) there. The horchatas and other agua frescas are amaaaaazing. The Mexican food also looks bomb but I haven’t tried any of it because I’m vegetarian. Make sure you put some sunscreen if you come during the summer because you WILL burn.

This place is kind of a zoo! Long lines of cars to get in and out. Witnessed a toothless man driving a station wagon backwards for a long long ways through the parking lot at high speeds to get to an imaginary spot.
Lots of garage sale type of stuff on one side, but found no treasures. If you need random things like faucets, or paint, some booths had those from close out sales, I presume.
The other side has all the new merch vendors, but nothing remarkable or cool, lots of cheap clothing like stretchy polyester jumpsuits in zebra and polka dot prints, and leggings.
Verdict; once was enough for me.

Lots of stuff. Weirdest thing, a bar and ceviche. Welcome to Spring Valley.
NO DOGS ALLOWED.

The entry here is $ 1 for adults and any children 12 and under gets in for free.
My mom likes going here once a year just to browse around. Today I went with her and its winter time in San Diego so of course it’s sunny around 12−1pm.
Make sure you bring iced cold water, sunglasses and your umbrella because it gets dehydrating hot out here.
I could only stand being here for 2 hours because it was really burning hot!

Not a swap meet person but I am a bargain person. If your looking for certain things like shoes, kids toys, blankets, knick knacks, clothes, they will be cheap here which I like. There’s a seller here that specifically sells work out clothes and there so cute. There also perfect for runners like myself if your into the compression style running pants that give you a comfortable feel but accentuate your shape. These type of pants sell at target or fabletics for 49 $ + but here each pair of pants cost 14 $! Great come up!

Don’t know what happen but right when I just barely got there. me and my son was itching all over the place. It was hard for me to shop so we both had to leave within 15 mins. I don’t know if it’s the air or something… but our skin was getting really irritated and itching.

I love the Spring Valley Swap meet! Yes it is crowded and dirty but aren’t all flea markets? I love sorting thru stuff looking for that one special item that I didn’t know I just had to have. Most people are flexible with their prices and I love to haggle over prices. I have sold there 3 or 4 times, mostly baby clothes and odds and ends around the house that I would otherwise donate to goodwill. My husband’s old tools sold very quickly at premium prices. If you truly love flea markets and tag sales this place is heaven! If you’re afraid of getting dirty or your a newby maybe you should try the other open market over by the Sports Arena.

If you don’t mind looking through hundreds of pieces of random junk to find one or two gems, this swapmeet is really cool. There’s tons of cool junk — tools, picture frames, old paintings, and I even saw a pregnant mannequin that I had to have but wasn’t willing to trade an arm and a leg for (200.00).
If you have kids, they’ll go crazy over all the cool toys. Super random toy rifles and bb guns and other dangerous toys for feral children like mine, and all really cheap. They sell vans and chucks here but prices are the same as amazon and other than random hats and cheap sunglasses, I wouldn’t expect too much as far clothing goes.
After an hour here you’ll feel like you’re walking in circles but that’s how pretty much how swapmeets work.

How can you not LOVE the swap meet? Always excellent deals and only $ 2 to get in! I frequent here when I need to pick up my drugstore makeup, skincare etc products here because they are much cheaper! I also love to head towards the right back end where they have the more yard sale like spots set up where you can find excellent deals on clothes, toys, movies etc! We have been searching for a long time to find a VHS player so that I could play all my old Disney VHS Movies for my 2 children & I found a VHS & DVD player for only $ 5 and it works EXCELLENT! This is the only swap meet I’ve been to and since it’s right down the road from my house & the deals are excellent I really have no need or desire to visit any other one! Definitely recommend this Swap Meet to others and I always love to bring my friends to share the deals with them too!

We came down to SD for a memorial service which was happening right next to the swap meet at the Spring Valley community Center.
We were a couple of hours early so we ran through the swap meet.
This is the biggest swap meet I have been to in a while.
$ 1.00 gets you in and we got a pretty good parking spot too.
The stuff here is so cool and not what I expected however it is a heavily Hispanic swap meet. The sheer amount of culture here is amazing.
There is so much stuff here, some was knock offs but there were dresses, hats, shoes, tires, old tools, flat screen TV’s, Knives, swords, fresh fruit, plants, Jesus goods, lady’s sports ware :) and socks, damn I have never seen so many sock vendors lol.
The food smelled amazing if we we not going to be eating at the community center i would have so been at those food trucks.
There was a guy making fresh churros right there I mean he even had a big mixer and was making the batter! it was sooooo good!
The crowd and the parking was ridiculous, the sub culture here was amazing and the social aspect of the Latino community was very well represented on all fronts.
This is more than just a place to buy stuff its a weekend event. everyone was very friendly and having a great time too.

It’s a swap meet. You’ll find some good deals on cheap stuff and the rare diamond in the rough. The food is really good though I do have to admit.

Hoy EH venido al mexicano moll me gusta porque aqui eh encontrado cosas que en ningun otro lugar las encontraría y sobre todo aquí si puedo regatiar jajaja y habren temprano .para los que les gusta levantarse temprana como yo. jajaja

Can u say garage sale heaven well that’s spring valley Swapmeet you can find anything and everything. I would recommend it to anyone looking for sometime there’s so many lost treasures here.

Glorious disaster. This place is all about walking around people watching and getting some good food and drinks. You can get your cheap sock game on here, a straw hat for the garden or some knock off designer junk. But it’s more about the experience. It’s grimy inside with trash floating around and actually some people going through the trash. Love they have 2 mariscos trucks in her with other food stands. Tons of seafood and beverage options. It’s a lot larger inside than you’ll anticipate by the outside. Put on your walking shoes and sunscreen.

Treasures at Every Turn. Open your Eyes and Look In Every Cranny… Will Find Gold California Style

My Husband loves going to Swapmeets just to walk around and look at all the neat stuff. I am not a fan of them but this one I actually enjoy going too. I have only tried food here twice and both times i was satisfied with the meals. The Horchata from a stand located on the right North corner is delicious. Cheap prices on most stands and this is a great place to get fresh flowers for your loved ones.
There are a variety of items you can find here such as flowers, baby items, clothes, pet care, fresh fruit, food, body care, makeup, shoes, car items, house items, etc…
Avoid this place if you do not like being surrounded by a lot of people since it can get pretty packed and you will probably get bumped by someone.

There’s only one reason I come to this swap meet, and one reason only. VINTAGE VIDEO GAMES!!! I’ve been coming here for a long time building a collection of old school video games, purchased a N64 and an original nintendo… cheap!
I’ve gone to other places that sell these items and for example one game I saw at the swap meet which I thought was asking a little much ($ 20) I found at several comic shops for $ 80…so yeeeeeeeah I bought it at the swap meet.
buyer beware however, there are only certain spots I buy from. Some places have burned me, I come back to try and get my money back and they act like they have no idea what I’m talking about so I just save myself the frustration and figure I lost 20. But the guys who are legit will almost always have business cards so if they have a card shop freely and confidently.

No deals here, everything is overpriced and the area is super dumpy. Not worth the trek and slime unless u like that kinda thing. The food was good but then again pricey, family of four we ate for $ 35. That is crazy $$ for tacos and nachos at a swap meet.

You’ll find alot of vendors here they even have a little sports bar with awsome Micheladas. You can grab a grub with all different kind of food vendors throughout the fleemarket. This place has vendors ranging from, plants, scraps, furniture, paint, carpet, home goods, pet stuff, fishing supplys, tools, vintage, brand name cloathing, produce, kids stuff and much, much, much more. Entrance to public is only $ 1.00, vendor prices range from $ 15 — $ 30 depending on spot location.
Place is not that appealing looking, the bathrooms are like gas station material (not appealing) but it looks like they do a good job keeping them clean, as to my experience. Great place to come if you don’t want to spend alot of $$$ for something plus you can allways barter with the sellers ;-)

This is your guide to the zombie apocalypse… errr, I mean selling at the Spring Valley Swap Meet.
3 am: Line up at the gate entry, for a good spot. We were here at 3:12 and 20^th in line.
6 am: A food truck will show up. You pay the lady serving the donuts ($ 1) at the table and can pick up a breakfast burrito or a breakfast sandwich, for $ 5. You can also get watered down coffee for $ 1. Warning: they say the burritos have sausages. It’s actually hot dog. Yuck.
6:30−7:00 am: You’ll be allowed to drive into the swap meet. Entry is $ 15. The general public is also being allowed in. You’ll discover this is a bad idea. Behind us, there were about 150 – 200 other cars wanting to go in, as well.
7:15 am-​ish: After you just pull into your spot, expect to be MOBBED! If actual zombies were involved, we’d be dead. #truth
Before I even turned off the engine and my sis and I got out of the car, people were pulling open boxes and bags open from the truck bed and dumping unwanted items on the ground. You need to be on the lookout for people trying to steal your stuff. ASKING THEM TO WAIT FOR YOU TO UNLOAD WILL NOT WORK! But, you’ll probably make your biggest profit at this time.
These people are super cheap. If you stick to your guns the first 2 hours, you’ll get the price you want on your more popular stuff.
Oh, and sorry, no Filipino discounts offered here…
10 am: We started dropping our prices. We still made a steady profit. My brother showed up about this time to help us sell and to also give us a break.
If you’re hungry, you can take some of your earnings and get food to eat. The SVSM has a variety of good vendors. We usually go for the shredded beef nachos. Ooh… and look for the guy selling horchata outside of isle 14. Best. Horchata. EVER!
12noon: Buying seems to die down and we were done! Of the 9 boxes and bags we bought, we sold off 4. We made about $ 250. Not bad, since we sold most items for $ 1-​$ 2. Biggest sellers were men’s clothing and women’s shoes. Another big item, which which we didn’t have — baby and kids clothing/​items.
After loaded the truck, the brother, our neighbor vendors and the general public helped us maneuver our big truck out of the tiny and tight parking space. We managed to not run anyone over as we exited the swap meet. There was a lot of horn honking though, to let folks know were were driving behind them.
If I were to ever do this again, here are some lessons learned:
— If I could avoid bringing an open bed truck, I would. That or have someone ride in the bed of the truck, after entering the swap meet, to prevent theft.
— Bring a table and a canopy. It was hot as heck and some cover would have been nice.
— Make sure items are sorted by gender/​size and organized, as much as possible. Potential buyers do not like digging through things, looking for their size.
— Have about $ 100 in small bills ($ 5s and $ 10s) because everyone will be paying you in $ 20s.
— NEVER do this alone. I would have never survived.
Would I do this, again? Ask me in a few months… after all the trauma has worn off.

My all time favorite swapmeet! How can any other place beat the prices here?!
And then the chips and churros with limon and chamoy? bomb!
And they even have a beer garden… say what?!? Micheladas and beer?! Yes please!
Carne asada chips?! Yes!
Awesome place for every San diegan to go to once every few weekends.