Tough economy creating new East Bay entrepreneurs
- November 30, 2010
Today's tough economy and even tighter job market are driving many people to become a new type of entrepreneur, one who sells goods from a car hood or at a flea market.
Urban entrepreneurship -- meaning simply making a profit from any type of enterprise -- is exactly what some folks are doing as they are forced to find sources of income in the poor economy.
Peter Lee, of Fremont, said he and his family had to close their karaoke store in Tracy because business was slow. Now he, his wife and three daughters, ranging in age from elementary to high school, sell goods at the swap meet on weekends at Laney College.
Lee, one of many vendors, is surrounded by coffee makers, foot massagers, clothes, lap trays, heaters and other overstock items from warehouses stores, auctions and liquidations. He and his family watch under their sunshade as potential buyers sift through the items.
"It's very hard," Lee said. "It used to be busy before, but now everyone is just looking, looking. No one wants to buy."
The money isn't steady either -- $80 on a slow day, a couple hundred on a good day. But for now, this is the only source of income for the Lee family.
"I need to do something to survive," Lee said, "even if it's just a little."
The ranks of urban entrepreneurs like Lee are growing these days. The high unemployment rate is taking its toll on many working-class families. You can see them around the Bay Area, selling items out of their cars in parking lots, on side streets and at flea markets to survive.
In October, the national unemployment rate was 9.6 percent; California's was 12.4 percent; and Oakland's was a staggering 17.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
People are seeking new ways to make income, but not every urban entrepreneur is as wholesome as the Lee family. Swap meets are known as a great place to find almost anything for cheap prices.
A few stalls down from Lee, a vendor is showcasing a cell phone that still has text messages from a worried lover, laptops with personal pictures and documents, purses with store security tags still attached, and clothing with price tags. When asked about the origin of a bag, the man answers, "Don't worry about where it's from, honey. Just know it's a good price. I'll give it to you for $90. That's a good deal; check the price tag inside." The price tag on the BCBG Max Azria bag was $180.
Most patrons don't ask questions. Swap meet operators, however, will revoke a vendor's permit for hawking stolen merchandise. For "vendors" who may have procured ill-gotten items with the intent to resell them: beware. A group of three young men were spotted the same day running out of the swap meet with Gucci bags they had snatched from a vendor.
"Whenever we find out people are selling illegal items, we take action immediately," said Naser Sari, 38, general manager of the Laney College Flea Market. "We don't endorse that type of behavior, but most of our vendors are family-oriented, so it's usually not a problem."
Sari said he has noticed a new brand of vendor. Four or five families he said he's spoken to since early summer rented space to sell household items from their newly foreclosed homes.
"Times are tough. "... A lot of people are moving to other states and can't bring their belongings with them," he said.
Swap meets aren't the only places urban entrepreneurs sell their wares.
At the Walmart in East Oakland near Hegenberger Road, parked cars scattered through the parking lot display all sorts of items on hoods or in trunks. A man's voice yelling, "Movies! Movies! Get your movies here!" is heard over the commotion.
In the midst of the lunch crowd chaos, Larry Gantt is selling hats and T-shirts with religious slogans, displayed on the hood of his black Mercedes-Benz.
Gantt, a husband and a father of a 20-year old college student, has created his own business after being laid off from a train derailment company where he worked for 13 years. Now he designs apparel and logos for local churches and sells items at gospel venues and on the street.
"I'm not making (a lot of) money, but I can pay a PG&E bill, put something on a cable bill. It's something," he said. "I don't have a steady income or health benefits anymore; everything I do, I have to pay out of pocket for, and that's why I need to make extra cash. But God is good. When he closes one door, another door opens."
Gantt said he is in the process of starting his own transportation company to shuttle cancer and dialysis patients.
Some urban entrepreneurs are struggling college students.
A few parking rows down from Gantt at the Walmart, Jamila Wright and her friend are hoping someone will make a custom order or buy one of their ready-to-go baby shower gifts.
"All of this," she said, as gestures over to her products, "is my side hustle on top of my full-time day job. "... I already finished my BS for Health Sciences from Cal State Hayward, but I need to finish a few more classes before I can take my MCAT and apply to Stanford. I want to become an orthopedic surgeon."
Adrienne Brown, assistant manager at Walmart, said people are selling goods in the parking lot every day and they are "completely harmless and are just trying to make some money."
"We don't encourage people to use our parking lot," Brown said, "but there's not much we can do about it. If someone really complains about them, we have to call the cops, but they don't really do anything "... just ask them to leave."
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