Soul Doctor's Flea Markets Directory

I met some ladies from a movie distributor company in my office on Wednesday, they sized me up and down and started asking me where I bought my handbag, my shoes, my jacket...and where I had my hair-cut (it's not what you think, she loved it).

What can be more flattering than that?

I promised I would email them a list of places where I get my regular supply of funky wardrobe...

The email started and it very quickly turn into a full length magazine article, I decided to let myself go wild and post it here. Will tell you what their reactions are after I send my email ok.

here we go, Soul Doctor's directory of KL's flea-market-shopping:

Ok, I wouldn't say we are blessed with second-bargain-vintage shopping scene like good old Australia but at least we've started! I started shopping at the very first (I believe they were the first) flea market in town way back, at least 5 years back, in Amcorp mall, those were the golden years where the goods were freshly chucked out of people's closets -- very very good stuff. Over the years the market has proliferated into a mix of piggy-backing pasar malam vendors selling brand new goods.

Anyway, here is the list:

Amcorp Mall
Sundays - full blown flea market from LG floor to top floors, in stores, mainly right wing, you can't miss it.
Saturdays - smaller market with fewer operators, started just recently.

My girlfriend and I shop so much there that the regular operators are now our old friends and really, large part of my wardrobe come from there, from bags to dresses, to books and CDs. Most of my most-admired earrings are from here and they cost me like RM 1 for some.

Things: old LPs, shoes, books, toys, trinkets, cakes, perfumes, CDs, books, antiques, bags, magic cards, cassettes, cameras, celebrities selling old earrings (I bought this pair of gorgeous drop earrings from some ex-Miss Malaysia for RM 5)...

Plaza Mon't Kiara - Craft Market
Sundays - started as an up-market FLEA market with DKNYs, DIORs, JGP belts and GUESS jeans all going cheap (rich women migrating to Australia, clearing wardrobe for the next season, you name it) until a while later when it suffered the same curse as Amcorp, now most vendors there sell brand new goods. Of course bearing the name of craft market, there are plenty of `craft' (nice, expensive, unnecessary goods) sold there. I sometimes go there and get myself some little surprise -- you might bump into one or two (two stores -- you MUST be lucky) stores with secondhand stuff.

Things: over-priced accessories, over-priced mass-produced high-street fashion, over-priced gem-stones, sofa covers, painted bottles, toys, shoes, cakes,

PJCC Community Link branches - Petaling Jaya Community Centre (PJCC)
They started (still there) as a store in Amcorp mall and then took up a store AND a shoplot (daily) that sells anything: comic books, magic cards, belts, clothes, trinkets, shoes, hats, mirrors....you get the picture. Later they were booted out of the shoplot, the Sunday store on 3rd remains. They now have branches in (what I know):

Atria, D'sara Jaya, 1st floor (huge floor space for a store like this, a quiet little shop for browsing funky accessories, books, dresses and furniture)

Summit, Subang, 1st floor (lots of clothes) AND 3rd floor (books and knick-knacks)

Some of my amazing buys from the PJCC folks are: a white vintage, fully beaded evening bag for RM 5, a floor length, fully-beaded halter-neck evening dress for RM 15, a short-rhine-stone cocktail black dress for RM 3, 80's sequined short dinner dress for RM 15, MNG earrings for RM5...of course it helps when I shop there so much.

SPCA Jumble Sales (about twice a year)
You have to brave the morning sun on the day itself, and wait at strategic position outside the huge gates of SPCA where the whole nation of foreign-workers in Ampang are waiting to go into the sale. Remember to wear something cooling and bring a small towel to dry yourself. Stay away if you can't stand animal stench/smell, dust, old clothes' dust, animal wailing away next to you....

Some of the best stuff I have from this sale are actually gifts from SM - SM went two years back, came back with two big garbage bags of clothes and knick-knacks and she gave me these: numerous Indian skirts which people till today still ask me where I got them, deep purple velvet jacket with Victorian collar, short black biker-jacket....I got myself in last year's sale: 70's sun shades for RM 1, Saris for RM5, black mash bag for RM4, numerous pieces of clothing..too numerous too remember.

Second Charm, TTDI (same row as Penang Village restaurant)
The guy who runs the store actually calls me whenever they have new items. I've been buying tons of accessories from him since the day I discovered the shop, I brought my models there when they were having shooting in a studio nearby and they bought too.

Things: Second-hand furniture - teak desks, chairs, beds, closets, books, shoes, bags, bags, bags, toys, 80's dresses, chandeliers....etc.

My best buys: short Austin-Power dress, bunch of accessories for RM 10 or less, shoe bag for RM 5, leather handbag for RM 10, some of the trinkets I bought went straight to the shoot happening next door.

And my all-time favourite non-secondhand shopping outlet: Sungai Wang. It never fails. Go shop for your signature look there today. It could be that pair of slippers or that furry bag that would make you.