By Camelia Juarez
At first glance, the Kyle Flea Market is a rusty shack filled to the brim with junk.
It doesn’t take long to realize there’s treasure inside.
“In this business you need to stay updated. Soon video games will be digital and downloadable, there will be no more physical discs. I am so old school, I still like the cartridges and so do so many collectors. Customers travel from Houston to peek throughmy collection.”
–Isaiah Coronado, video game collector
The Kyle Flea Market is easy to miss while driving along Interstate 35 and is only open on weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
But thrifters who frequent the Flea Market insist Sunday is the busiest day with the most vendors.
For Graci Collis, a teacher at the Baldwin Beauty School, offering stylist services at the flea market is a passion.
She also understands some customers might be uneasy about getting a haircut inside a hole in the wall. Since 2018, Collis has developed enough relationships to have returning customers. Of course, her little shop is licensed and recognized by the Cosmetology Commission.
“It’s a passion of mine. I haven’t had my own business for a while and I really missed cutting hair. I don’t do it for the money. I do it because I am genuinely happier cutting hair,” Collis said.
For Isaiah Coronado, a nostalgic collector of video games, his shop is filled with every type of gaming console and almost every gaming cartridge and disk since the Atari days.
His collection began when his children wanted all the latest gaming gadgets. As his four children grew up, so did his extensive collection. Coronado relishes the chance to draw in those who are also interested in finding an older piece of hardware or game.
“In this business you need to stay updated. Soon video games will be digital and downloadable, there will be no more physical discs,” Coronado said. “I am so old school, I still like the cartridges and so do so many collectors. Customers travel from Houston to peek through my collection.”
Meanwhile, people of all ages walk into David Graham’s hybrid card collector shop as if they were a child in the candy aisle.
Graham has an extensive card collection that consists of first edition Pokémon cards, original Star Wars cards, baseball cards and tons of Yu-gi-Oh! cards. In addition, he sells Hot Wheels in their original packaging and fishing gear. It’s a one-stop shop for an extensive combination of rare finds.
Graham admits that he’s a hoarder selling to other hoarders. While it’s tough to sell off an item, he knows there’s an end to justify the means.
“No one wants to sell their collection. It hurts to see some stuff go, but I just remind myself that I can use the profits to buy more stuff,” Graham said.
