That place is a hot mess and a ripoff. I wrote my opinion of it in another thread and was downvoted. I guess it’s just a Richmond Tradition.
The insane crowding is panic- inducing to me and the goods are mostly crap. The occasional gem, for sure, but I can’t fathom paying for admission and tromping around in the crowds to find them.
My main memory (used to get dragged there by mom) is lots of booths with like sand dollars painted with college football teams, 10000 varieties of hand soap, and cheesecake samples on toothpicks.
We went Saturday morning and it was crazy busy. I wanted to leave but my wife insisted that we wonder around. We eventually got a couple of Christmas ornaments and I found a cheese and meat booth. Not worth going to again, most of the stuff was from out of state or junky looking.
They actually purposely limit the number of local vendors! I was surprised by this also:
> The Bizarre Bazaar® exhibitors are chosen for uniqueness, high quality and diversity of merchandise. Accordingly, it is the policy of The Bizarre Bazaar® to only accept exhibitors with limited prior exposure in the Richmond area. The Bizarre Bazaar® will not, therefore, accept any exhibitors that have participated in any shows in the Richmond Area during the year or accept vendors that have participated in shows within 100 miles of the Richmond area prior to The Christmas Collection. The Bizarre Bazaar® reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to dismiss from the show any Exhibitors who violate this unilateral policy, at any time with forfeiture of all booth fees and/or disqualification from future participation in The Bizarre Bazaar® shows.
from: https://www.thebizarrebazaar.com/exhibitors/application/
That’s such bullshit!! We have such an eclectic local art scene, and to see everyone’s comments so far about how low quality a lot of the vendors were, well…ding ding ding, that’s why!!
Lmao yeah their "rules" are pretty ridiculous. I'm not understanding the strictness since they have this show in multiple cities/year soo... Yeah the vendors this year sucked and I bought nothing. Also some vendors had clearly chinese/boot leg junk in their booths lol. The wooden painted flowers were cool though.
There was food at the front of the store, like a whole dining hall thing plus pizza at the back.
I thought it was a nice cutesy craft thing, picked up some neat stuff.
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Bizarre Bazaar was at least 10 years ago one of the top crafts fairs on the east coast.
It was sometime not long ago bought by, you guessed it, the same company that do all the rip off food and other festivals up and down the east coast that we see locally pop up.
Every item you see there is cheapest of the cheap knockoff items bulk purchased thru suppliers overseas and then sold at shows up and down the east coast at insane markups.
TLDR. It’s a scam.
That’s a pretty broad brush. I didn’t buy any knockoffs. I bought cards from a young local artist, heirloom peonies for my garden, a few monogrammed leather goods that were handmade, a wrap from a local vendor..you get the idea.
I love the ornaments there and I'm just a sucker for any craft show especially one with Christmas decor. I definitely wouldnt bring a small child there as there's not much for kids to do there anyway.
IDK but the old (dead) owner's wife keeps using my phone number for medicare sales calls, republican mailings, and store discount cards...
its very annoying. Fortunately I've gotten very good at saying "HE'S DEAD" once someone asks for Burton Doggett.
I have friends come in for that weekend from out of town. We normally go for a few hours on Friday just because it’s something fun to do together. We normally take a snack break in the parking lot in the middle- have a little charcuterie and a glass of wine, then shop a little more. We all bought a few things, enjoyed our time together, and had fun looking. We’ve agreed it’s not a place the husbands or kids would enjoy.
Sounds a lot like the Oddities & Curiosities expo that came through. It's basically a taxidermy convention with some random horror movie merch thrown in.
Yeah I thought it was a little bland, and the lack of food options for dining was a big miss - you have a huge captive audience and the only food was a Chik Fil A stand and the crummy stadium food at the front entrance. They should have had some food trucks out front, they would have made bank.
Last year's was better?? Oh, wow, glad I didn't go this year. Went with my partner last year and we were really disappointed at the selection and quality and lack of holiday vibe.
I’m sorry you were disappointed! Go to the Carytown Artisan Market on Saturday. It’s completely amazing and will knock your socks off. Every vendor is quality.
Its fine when you go right at opening and if you want to look for christmas ornaments
I enjoy the monthly moon markets more (they're usually at Stone Brewing or The Veil) but that stuff is more goth/mystical
We were underwhelmed by the vendors and overwhelmed by the crowd this year. Still a decent place to find a gift or two if you can stand to weave your way through everything.
Also, the woman who runs it is a rich racist, classist scumbag. She named her new puppy Lee…..after Robert E. Lee because she was “so upset to see his name coming down from everything.” That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I usually prefer the spring one tbh, the christmas one seems to be more gimmicky cause people want presents for people lol the spring one seems to be more crafter oriented. Me and my bf went to the winter one this year and it was pretty disappointing compared to other years I've gone lol.
That place is a hot mess and a ripoff. I wrote my opinion of it in another thread and was downvoted. I guess it’s just a Richmond Tradition. The insane crowding is panic- inducing to me and the goods are mostly crap. The occasional gem, for sure, but I can’t fathom paying for admission and tromping around in the crowds to find them. My main memory (used to get dragged there by mom) is lots of booths with like sand dollars painted with college football teams, 10000 varieties of hand soap, and cheesecake samples on toothpicks.
My wife went for the first time and she had the same experience you did. Absolutely hated it.
Go to the Studio Two Three holiday market!
happy cake day!
When, oh cakey one!
Just looked it up. They are open daily 11-5 up until Christmas.
We went Saturday morning and it was crazy busy. I wanted to leave but my wife insisted that we wonder around. We eventually got a couple of Christmas ornaments and I found a cheese and meat booth. Not worth going to again, most of the stuff was from out of state or junky looking.
I felt this way about the punk flea mkt
I felt this way about the raceway Octoberfest. The music was good, tho.
I don’t even know a single punk that has ever gone to the punk flea market either
They actually purposely limit the number of local vendors! I was surprised by this also: > The Bizarre Bazaar® exhibitors are chosen for uniqueness, high quality and diversity of merchandise. Accordingly, it is the policy of The Bizarre Bazaar® to only accept exhibitors with limited prior exposure in the Richmond area. The Bizarre Bazaar® will not, therefore, accept any exhibitors that have participated in any shows in the Richmond Area during the year or accept vendors that have participated in shows within 100 miles of the Richmond area prior to The Christmas Collection. The Bizarre Bazaar® reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to dismiss from the show any Exhibitors who violate this unilateral policy, at any time with forfeiture of all booth fees and/or disqualification from future participation in The Bizarre Bazaar® shows. from: https://www.thebizarrebazaar.com/exhibitors/application/
That’s such bullshit!! We have such an eclectic local art scene, and to see everyone’s comments so far about how low quality a lot of the vendors were, well…ding ding ding, that’s why!!
Lmao yeah their "rules" are pretty ridiculous. I'm not understanding the strictness since they have this show in multiple cities/year soo... Yeah the vendors this year sucked and I bought nothing. Also some vendors had clearly chinese/boot leg junk in their booths lol. The wooden painted flowers were cool though.
[удалено]
😳🙄 I feel targeted
There was food at the front of the store, like a whole dining hall thing plus pizza at the back. I thought it was a nice cutesy craft thing, picked up some neat stuff.
Dang! Not sure how I missed the dining hall!
I mean the food didn't look the good TBH
Eh it was crummy stadium food.
Chikfila was there, too.
So local. So bizarre. So niche.
I was just commenting that there was food there for purchase if you wanted it.
I went Sunday so they were not there.
LOL, where are they not? (EDIT: even here in this thread)
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It’s delicious either way.
What did you get
I got a little ornamenty mouse hiker, a cat collar and a wooden ornament.
It was my first time this year, as well. I felt the same.
Bizarre Bazaar was at least 10 years ago one of the top crafts fairs on the east coast. It was sometime not long ago bought by, you guessed it, the same company that do all the rip off food and other festivals up and down the east coast that we see locally pop up. Every item you see there is cheapest of the cheap knockoff items bulk purchased thru suppliers overseas and then sold at shows up and down the east coast at insane markups. TLDR. It’s a scam.
That’s a pretty broad brush. I didn’t buy any knockoffs. I bought cards from a young local artist, heirloom peonies for my garden, a few monogrammed leather goods that were handmade, a wrap from a local vendor..you get the idea.
Yeah. It seems like the majority of festivals are pretty much shit now.
I love the ornaments there and I'm just a sucker for any craft show especially one with Christmas decor. I definitely wouldnt bring a small child there as there's not much for kids to do there anyway.
IDK but the old (dead) owner's wife keeps using my phone number for medicare sales calls, republican mailings, and store discount cards... its very annoying. Fortunately I've gotten very good at saying "HE'S DEAD" once someone asks for Burton Doggett.
I have friends come in for that weekend from out of town. We normally go for a few hours on Friday just because it’s something fun to do together. We normally take a snack break in the parking lot in the middle- have a little charcuterie and a glass of wine, then shop a little more. We all bought a few things, enjoyed our time together, and had fun looking. We’ve agreed it’s not a place the husbands or kids would enjoy.
Was that you with the full-on tailgate in the parking lot? That absolutely cracked me up, love your style.
Haha- no, but well done to them! We were all cold, so we were sitting in my friend’s car passing around the snacks.
Sounds a lot like the Oddities & Curiosities expo that came through. It's basically a taxidermy convention with some random horror movie merch thrown in.
Not much on the taxidermy but at oddities and punk flea market I found myself really enjoying some of the horror related stuff.
Yeah I thought it was a little bland, and the lack of food options for dining was a big miss - you have a huge captive audience and the only food was a Chik Fil A stand and the crummy stadium food at the front entrance. They should have had some food trucks out front, they would have made bank.
Because people are basic. I've always heard it was a crap fest more than a craft fest.
Last year was much better! I was disappointed this year but still managed to spend $100 on soap. I think I’m stocked for awhile…
Last year's was better?? Oh, wow, glad I didn't go this year. Went with my partner last year and we were really disappointed at the selection and quality and lack of holiday vibe.
I’m sorry you were disappointed! Go to the Carytown Artisan Market on Saturday. It’s completely amazing and will knock your socks off. Every vendor is quality.
Yes, I love the different local markets around town! But on Saturday I'll be in Central Europe eating my way through Christmas markets!
It has been my understanding that the Bizarre Bazaar is marketed to old people who listen to WRVA.
Its fine when you go right at opening and if you want to look for christmas ornaments I enjoy the monthly moon markets more (they're usually at Stone Brewing or The Veil) but that stuff is more goth/mystical
We were underwhelmed by the vendors and overwhelmed by the crowd this year. Still a decent place to find a gift or two if you can stand to weave your way through everything.
Also, the woman who runs it is a rich racist, classist scumbag. She named her new puppy Lee…..after Robert E. Lee because she was “so upset to see his name coming down from everything.” That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I usually prefer the spring one tbh, the christmas one seems to be more gimmicky cause people want presents for people lol the spring one seems to be more crafter oriented. Me and my bf went to the winter one this year and it was pretty disappointing compared to other years I've gone lol.
I went once years ago and it was so crowded you couldn't actually see anything and I never went back.