Old Spitalfields Market - London

Yesterday (Sunday) while the India cricket team was on its way out I wandered over to the Old Spitalfields Market near Liverpool Street. It is open Thursday to Sunday with different themes each day. Sunday's is a general market. Around the outskirts are a number of cheaper vendors selling shoes and clothing, and inside a big covered area is the main event, which is full of artsy creations of all kinds.

I struck out from our current home and took the subway/tube to the nearest station, found using the amazing "CityMapper" app. Once there my dysfunctional sense of direction took over and I had to ask someone for help. This has been my MO so far. London is laid out so well and the subway system is easy, so I can confidently get to the required station. On the street, especially in more touristy areas, there are extremely detailed helpful maps showing You Are Here and there is everything else. Despite these, I still end up going in the wrong direction, and usually either just do this until I can see it has happened on the next map, or just ask someone. 

With guidance from the employees at a Starbucks cart I quickly found what I thought was the market. It turned out later this was the outer ring of vendors. I didn't realize until, thinking I was finished, I wandered into this big area and found all of the more expensive artsy ones. 

The market was great, and basically my ideal shopping experience. There were Things Everywhere!

If I didn't have to carry everything I owned in a tiny backpack I would have bought a whole new wardrobe. And it would have included these tiny sequin shorts:

There were all kinds of interesting clothes I've never really seen before.

I wasn't sure if haggling was allowed or not, and after some investigation my understanding is that you can certainly ask, but if the person says no you should accept it and move on. Also people a more willing to give you discount on buying multiple items than just reducing the price of one.

My previous haggling experiences in India were different--you could argue back and forth a lot more. I did this with one of the sellers early on in the day and it got a little awkward, and by the end of the day I felt embarrassed that I had done it. Also while I was haggling another vendor came up and told me that he wanted "skin on skin" and that would be the way to get a discount. Because I live in an innocent fantasy world it actually took me a second to understand what he meant, hah!! "Am I supposed to shake his hand?" I thought. To the original sellers credit, he looked as uncomfortable with the comment as I was. I left after that. 

Anyway, as it went on I realized that you weren't supposed to haggle so much, and when they said a price for the most part they meant it and were sticking to it.

I had a fun time at a sunglasses stall, where some of these nuances were explained to me by the owner. My advice to anyone going would be to ask something stupidly polite like "is the price negotiable?" 

While I was at this stall a woman came over and started an argument with the vendor about a bracelet in plastic wrapping. She wanted to open it and when he said she couldn't made a big deal about it. After yelling at him about it for a while she said that she wanted to open it because maybe he was selling broken things and she had to make sure, and the vendor had enough. He put his hand over the bracelet and said "you're right, I sell broken things, you don't want this." And when she tried to argue again he basically told her that he didn't want her money, and that after she treated him that way he wouldn't sell to her if she was the last person on earth. 

He told me after that some people treated him like he was their slave, and he would rather lose the sale to teach the lesson that they couldn't treat the vendors like shit. 

It was a little scary---what if I had somehow been that person??--but a good lesson. I think the main issue was not even what the woman said but how she said it. She really did talk to him like he was her servant. 

It's hard to always be doing something new and not know the rules. I had a fun day but it was also tiring to try to not to mess up. After watching that exchange I felt embarrassed about how much I had argued with the previous guy. As I've said before, when traveling you have to be okay with standing out and making mistakes, but sometimes this gets old.

Even worse, once I got to the inner artsy market I was taking pictures of these delightful little creature creations and the stall owner came over suspiciously to ask why I was taking pictures. I guess when you are selling your creativity you have to be careful that people aren't just going to steal your ideas, and even though it wasn't that big of a deal I was totally mortified and wanted to disappear. 

Anyway, I am making this sound worse than it is, probably. I slowly got over it and was careful to only take pictures from farther out, and not zoomed in on any one item. There have been many cases of big chain stores like Urban Outfitters and Target stealing design ideas from independent artists, and the artist almost always loses, so I understand the concern. 

The inside market was amazing, and full of incredible displays put together carefully and with love. This one stall selling jewelry had a trees everywhere, with necklaces hanging from them.

According to the website, a lot of the vendors are recently graduated art students. I ended up in a t shirt stall with another woman who was trying on shirts. The price was discounted if you bought two, and, with the vendors permission, we went in on it together and each got a shirt. Mine is a cat, of course!

After all of this I needed to sit, so I went to a place within the compound called "Crepe Affair" and had a lemon/butter/sugar crepe with vanilla ice cream.

I drew some pictures for a while and then finally left to head back to the subway/tube station and then meet Subash at the cricket ground.

I really had a great time. The market was awesome, and a fun way to spend the day. This place has different events throughout the month also, like a "Brewer's Market" beer market and a "Paw Pageant" coming up on Aug 25 described as "a host of doggy dudes donning couture designer fashion."

The market is obviously well loved and cared for by its vendors. Even the brochure map is fun:

It turns out this is just one of many many markets in London. 

Cricket ended early so today Subash and I are home sleeping in. I am going to work on some journal pages next. It's good to have some time behind a closed door regenerating. I have to build my reserves back up for the next adventure, where I will inevitably make some mistakes or commit a cultural faux-pas without knowing it. It's all worth it, though! I have no regrets.

Except that I didn't buy those sequin shorts.