FleaMarket

              ector becomes flea
ST. CHARLES CHRONICLE	Wednesday, Sept. 10, 1980	Section One Page 7
	rket entrepreneur
atmosphere, she said.
The City of St. Charles recently considered a tax for
both flea market and Kane County fair patrons.
Although the issue has been tabled, the suggestion was
a 10 or 15 cent tax added to admission charges for both
events. Arguments for the tax are that police and civil
defense protection are provided for the fair and that
the visiting merchants compete both directly and in-
directly with local businesses.
"My business pays taxes on the gate admission, the
food tax and the salaries I pay my local help," Robin-
son said. St. Charles benefits from any business the
flea market does, she argues. Nor does the flea market
utilize police protection or any other city personnel.
Each dealer at the flea market has a state license to
sell and the city receives 1 percent of all the sales tax
that is generated, Robinson said. "Each dealer has a
tax number so the city must be getting sales tax
By Joan Netzbandt
Genevan Helen Robinson helps 6,000 people every
month indulge their penchant for collecting.
She operates the Kane County Flea Market, "the
largest antique and collectible flea market in the
world," according to Robinson.
Fourteen years ago at the Wasco Legion, Robinson
brought 14 dealers together for her first flea market.
Four hundred customers browsed among the wares.
Today a flea market attracts an average of 6,000 people
and more than 500 dealers display everything from fur-
niture to antique jewelry.
The year-round flea market is "my business,'"
Robinson said. She was inspired by a similar market
she attended in Princeton. "I didn't , know why I
couldn't start one too," she added.
Dealers come from every state and say this is the
best area to buy and sell, Robinson said. The flea
market is the first Sunday of every month and is a
weekend market in � March, July, October and
December.
"The first 10 years I was lucky to meet my ex-
penses," Robinson said. And like any business, Robin-
son's expenses keep going up. Where once she paid $125
rent each month to the Kane County Fair Board, she
now pays $3,000 about $5,000 for a two-day show. She
charges a $1 admission charge per person.
When the gate opens at 7 a.m. the day of a show,
visitors can buy a country breakfast for $2. "We cooked
110 dozen eggs for breakfast last month," Robinson
said.
Business is good. But Robinson contemarkett the flea
Imarket, as an event that attracts thousands of people
to the Fox Valley every month, has also generated
business for the area. Not only the visitors, but the 500
or more dealers, buy food and gas while staying in the
area. If there were more motels and some camping
facilities the cities could do a booming business
because dealers alone usually spend two nights here,
Robinson said.
Restaurant owners in the area have learned to plan
ahead for extra help and supplies the weekend of the
flea market, Robinson has learned.
Robinson's business has done its share to boost
tourism in the valley also Many visitors and dealers
come back to shop or dine in the area once they have
visited the flea market because they like the country
revenue," she added. If the city charges a license fee
for each vendor they will be paying twice.
Robinson calls the market "a hobby that mushroom-
ed into a business." It has matured along with its most
finicky collectors. It is still the placefor those in-
terested in a unique beer can, but for those who want to
invest their money in tangibles such as jewelry or fur-
niture there is plemarketto tantalize.