Holiday sales vary at Market

In the shade of a cloudy Sunday, hundreds of patrons shuffled their feet from station to station while closing out the first weekend of seasonal shopping at the Orange County Market Place.

Predictions for holiday sales have varied due to economic struggles across the country, but the isles of the Market Place were filled with browsing shoppers late into the afternoon during the Thanksgiving weekend at the swap meet.

“I didn’t find it was slower than usual,” said Dona Quinones of Long Beach.

Quinones has been selling kitchen gadgets at the Market Place for 21 years and believes trends like the Food Network have influenced her sales.

“[We are] doing better because more people are cooking than eating out,” she said.

Her beliefs were substantiated by the popularity of cooking and food vendors.

Kitchen Craft Cooking had an instructional session of healthy eating, utensils and cooking, and filled almost every seat despite being near closing time.

Yet many of the clothing outlets were empty in the afternoon. Darryl Homer, who runs Bad to the Bone T-shirts, likes coming to the Market Place because of its atmosphere and the fun attitude.

Despite selling all over the western United States, he has been selling at the Market Place for seven years and believes slow business is a mixture of changing shopping habits and empty pockets.

“[Sales are] definitely worse,” said Homer. “The way people shop has changed, it’s either online or at Wal-Marts.”

One market that wasn’t taking any hits were fruit and vegetable sellers.

Food vendors were left with empty trays after people squished in under tents to buy grapes, strawberries, bananas and asparagus.

“The worse the economy, the better food stands do,” said Michelle Beninati who has had her food stand at the Market Place for 28 years. “Food is cheaper here than at the store.”

Beninati also accredits the stand’s popularity to the sweet taste of fruit, as well as Californians’ attraction to healthier items.

The Orange County Market Place has been open since 1969 and offers an array of items from clothing fashions to furniture to food to rides and pictures with Santa.

St. Nick is available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and a free voucher for a photo opportunity can be found at the Market Place’s website.

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.