The San Jose Flea Market

What The San Jose Flea Market does

The San Jose Flea Market is a privately held, family-owned outdoor marketplace founded in 1960 by George Bumb on orchard farmland in Berryessa, San Jose. The company operates a single 120+ acre venue at 1590 Berryessa Road that hosts more than 6,000 vendors weekly and attracts over 4 million visitors annually (approximately 75,000+ per weekend), employing 500+ staff on any given weekend. Its operations have no proprietary software layer; the underlying "technology" is the physical site itself, located adjacent to the Berryessa BART Station, together with manual vendor space management, on-site registration, and standard cash/credit retail operations.

The business operates as a multi-sided venue marketplace serving two distinct customer sets. On the supply side, the company rents vendor spaces across daily ($35-$40 weekend, FREE on Fridays), reserved (with a $10 fee), and monthly tiers ($320 to $925 depending on container, building, open air, or produce row format, with premium corner positioning). On the demand side, the company serves mass-market families and Silicon Valley visitors through free-to-modestly-priced admission ($3 Saturday, $5 Sunday), tiered visitor parking ($10 Saturday / $20 Sunday, free on Fridays), an owned-and-operated food concession stack (30+ snack bars plus 60+ food carts), and a layered entertainment offering that includes a vintage 1950 Allan Herschell carousel, a 90+ game arcade, multiple live music stages, and the Garden at the Flea community events space. The quarter-mile produce row serves as a flagship attraction for fresh-produce shoppers, with EBT and credit accepted.

Revenue mechanics are diversified across four disclosed streams: vendor space rental (transaction-fee model), paid parking (transaction-fee model), owned food concessions (managed-services model), and special-event venue rental anchored by the Berryessa Night Market (April-October Friday evenings). The company pursues a direct-to-consumer go-to-market through its physical venue, supplemented by an event-driven vendor acquisition motion conducted in person at the Info Booth and via phone. No external investors, funding rounds, or acquisitions are disclosed; ownership remains concentrated within the founding family.

Name

The San Jose Flea Market

Legal name

The San Jose Flea Market

Website

https://sjfm.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1960

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The San Jose Flea Market is a family-owned outdoor marketplace in San Jose, California, founded in 1960. It operates 120+ acres of vendor spaces, food concessions, parking, and visitor attractions, serving over 4 million annual visitors and 6,000+ weekly vendors across Silicon Valley.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Flea Market / Outdoor Marketplace Venue

NAICS

Amusement Parks and Arcades (7131)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990), Retail-Variety Stores (5331)

akta.pro primary industry

Local Community & Multi-Category Fairs (MPAGAFAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

General Consumer Expos & Trade Shows (MPAGAFAA)

Keywords

• Flea market services
• Vendor space rentals
• Outdoor marketplace venue
• Farmer's market produce
• Community event hosting

Headquarters

HQ city

San Jose

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Vendor Space Rental: The primary revenue stream comes from renting vendor spaces on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Daily spaces range from FREE on Wednesdays/Fridays to $35-40 per space on weekends. Monthly rentals range from $320 to $925 depending on space type (open space, building, container, produce row). Corner spaces command premium rates.
2. Parking Fees: Revenue generated from visitor parking. Saturday parking is $10, Sunday parking is $20, with free parking on Fridays. Friday Night Events parking is $5. Free parking available before 8 AM on weekends.
3. Food Concessions: The Flea Market Inc. owns and operates all prepared food and beverage concessions on the premises, generating revenue through food stands, restaurants, snack bars, and food trucks. Over 30 snack bars and 60+ smaller food carts operate on-site.
4. Special Event Venue Rental: The Garden at the Flea hosts special themed events including Berryessa Night Markets on Friday evenings (April-October), with vendor applications starting at $30 for selling spaces. Event applications are open for food trucks and sellers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The San Jose Flea Market is a 120+ acre physical marketplace venue in San Jose, California that rents selling spaces to vendors on daily, reservation, and monthly terms and operates a wide range of visitor amenities including a quarter-mile produce row, an arcade, rides and a vintage carousel, live music stages, and on-site food concessions. The venue also operates the Garden at the Flea community events space and hosts the Berryessa Night Market on Friday evenings from April through October.

Product overview

The San Jose Flea Market operates as a physical marketplace venue offering multiple vendor space rental products and visitor attractions. The core offerings include Daily Spaces, Daily Reservations, and Monthly Rental Spaces for vendors to sell merchandise, with spaces ranging from open air spots (17' x 20') to enclosed buildings. Ancillary products include the Berryessa Night Market (Friday evening events) and Garden at the Flea (community events space). Visitor attractions include Produce Row (quarter-mile farmer's market), Arcade (90+ video games), Playground and Rides (including a vintage carousel), Live Music Stages, and Food Stands/Concessions. The company is a physical retail/flea market venue, not a software technology platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Garden at the Flea: A community events space located near the Berryessa BART Station, featuring themed events, food trucks, live music, and outdoor dining. Hosts the Berryessa Night Market on Friday evenings.
• Berryessa Night Market

Products and services

• Daily Vendor Spaces

Quantifiable outcome

• 4+ million visitors annually
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Hunger at HomecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHunger at Home fights food insecurity in Silicon Valley by rescuing surplus food and turning it into meals for those in need. The San Jose Flea Market serves as a host venue for this vital community effort, providing space for food distribution activities.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Round Top Antiques Fair: Semi-annual antique and vintage fair in Round Top, Texas, operating across multiple venues and drawing vendors and visitors from across the country. Comparable to the San Jose Flea Market for vendor space rental, multi-category goods, and weekend event-style operations.
• Grand Central Market: Historic downtown Los Angeles food hall and marketplace with dozens of independent food vendors and merchants. Comparable to the San Jose Flea Market for its multi-vendor marketplace format, food-concession focus, and customer-facing variety.
• Brimfield Antique Show: Massive outdoor antique and flea market held three times yearly in Brimfield, Massachusetts, drawing thousands of vendors and hundreds of thousands of visitors. Comparable to the San Jose Flea Market for vendor-paid space rentals, multi-category inventory, and outdoor market format.
• Reading Terminal Market: Enclosed public market in Philadelphia operating since 1893, featuring farmers, food vendors, and specialty merchants. Comparable to the San Jose Flea Market as a community-vendor marketplace with a multi-generational customer base and food-driven destination format.
• Rose Bowl Flea Market: One of the largest and most famous flea markets in California, held on the second Sunday of every month at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena. Directly comparable to the San Jose Flea Market as a large-scale, multi-vendor outdoor marketplace with antiques, collectibles, food, and a regional draw.
• Pike Place Market: Historic nine-acre public market in Seattle with hundreds of farmers, craftspeople, and food vendors. Comparable to the San Jose Flea Market as a long-running, multi-vendor community marketplace with a produce row, food vendors, and a sustained family tradition.
• Melrose Trading Post: Weekly Sunday flea market at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles featuring curated vendors, food, and live music. Comparable to the San Jose Flea Market in operating model: weekly recurring marketplace with vendor rental, food concessions, and entertainment draw.

Broad incumbents

• Knott's Berry Farm: Established California theme park owned by Cedar Fair, combining rides, entertainment, food, and retail. Comparable to the San Jose Flea Market as a broader family-entertainment destination mixing attractions, food concessions, and merchandise, though at much larger scale and as a corporate operator.

Regional players

• Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk: Historic Northern California amusement park and arcade overlooking the Pacific, operating since 1907. Comparable to the San Jose Flea Market as a regional family-entertainment destination offering rides, arcade games, food, and free admission with paid attractions.
• Pier 39: San Francisco waterfront entertainment and shopping destination with restaurants, retail, attractions, and events. Comparable to the San Jose Flea Market as a Bay Area family-entertainment destination combining shopping, food, attractions, and event programming.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The San Jose Flea Market