Sungei Road: The last Flea Market

Jun 5, 2017

2 min read

After 8 decades, Singapore's oldest flea market in Sungei Road will close its final chapter on 10 July 2017 to make way for Jalan Besar MRT station.

Also known as "Thieves Market", traders in the open-air market are allowed to sell only second-hand or used merchandise.

What can you look out for in Sungei Road Flea Market?

1) Gems in the clutter

There are definitely gems that are worth your penny.

Sungei Road Gold Coins
Moka Pot (small coffee machine)
Pink makeup box
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2) Traditionally antique

Antique items that you cannot get off the shelves in retail stores any more

Old book collections
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Oldies Music
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3) Social interaction among the elderly

Age is not the limit. Perhaps it's not about retiring at a certain age when we stop maximising our brain capacity. It's about growing and learning every single day, of course not just theoretical knowledge.

Our interaction with one another enriches our lives. There's really know end to learning. The more we learn, the more we then realise that we actually do not know much at all. Of course, humility and vulnerability allow us to learn from one another.

And if you realise, the elderly are actually selling rather similar items. Yet it's not about who's selling better and/or more valuable items. It's the experience that a buyer can get in this Thieves' Market.

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4) And of course an eye opener to these uncles'

It's an understatement - but somehow it's a glimpse of the 70s and 80s before commercial retail shops were set up. With the weather these days - It's obviously scorchingly hot. After an hour in there, I was desperate to get out of the heat. And I wonder how these people survive the entire day like that!