Wildcat Flea Market: From Kitchen Sinks to Wedding Gowns Since 1972
Story by Sam Calhoun
On a hot spring day in 1972, a construction crew was putting up the last truss on the frame of what was to be the Wildcat Flea Market on then-Highway 421 in Deep Gap. All of a sudden, a characteristic High Country gust of wind made an appearance on the scene, knocking down the truss, then another, then the walls, and before long, months of hard work had been diminished to a pile of lumber.
“They said that they heard the noise all through Deep Gap,” said Elaine Richardson, 34-year co-owner of Wildcat Flea Market, located at 5762 Old Highway 421. “Thank God that no one was hurt; that was the important thing.”
As her three-decade business track record suggests, Richardson and her family aren’t quick to give up. By June 1972, the building had been reconstructed and Wildcat Flea Market opened its doors to the public, offering a second-hand outlet for practically everything.
“We have sold everything from kitchen sinks to wedding gowns and that’s the truth,” said Richardson.
Richardson owns the Wildcat with her husband Jack, 81, and her son Kevin, 47. This year, the family celebrates 34 years in business, and Jack and Elaine celebrate 57 years of marriage.
Originally from Long Island, NY, Elaine met High Country local Jack in the Empire State in the 1940s. They were married in 1949 and had three children. Kevin lives in Boone; Keith, 56, lives in Fleetwood; and Kathy, 53, lives in Hickory and is getting married on August 11.
With Jack living in Florida for his job, Elaine and the three kids called Deep Gap home near where Jack’s family had settled. Along with a home that the family built atop a mountain in Deep Gap in 1966, the Richardsons also owned a 4-acre piece of property that bordered Highway 421 on the way toward Boone.
“I was bored. I didn’t know what I was going to do,” said Richardson. “My husband was in Florida; he was a real estate broker with two offices down there and I had three children up here and they didn’t like it.”
Elaine had plans to take over Jack’s father’s old post office building and turn it into a second hand store for local people; she knew she could find and buy merchandise at a reasonable cost and sell it at equally reasonable prices, but Jack encouraged her to wait.
Finally, Jack came to Elaine and said, “I’ll build you a building and then you can decide what you can do with it.”
Once the building took shape on the second try, Elaine decided to open a flea market, but Jack wanted her to learn the trade before she dove in headfirst. So he sent his wife to Miami to learn from one of his friends who also owned a flea market.
“He made me work for nothing,” added Elaine.
But the experience paid off. She ended up buying all of her merchandise from Jack’s friend for good prices and returned to Deep Gap ready to undersell everyone around.
Unlike today, multiple flea markets were located in the area around the Wildcat Flea Market when it opened in the early 1970s. Other flea market owners threatened to put Elaine out of business.
“But they’re gone and I’m not,” added Elaine.
Staying power—that’s what Wildcat’s all about. From the two vendors that were there on that first day and just recently retired to today’s 135 warehouses outside and 20 booths inside, the flea market and storage business has continued through three decades and the loss of a major highway feeding customers through its doors.
Until a couple of years ago, Wildcat sat perched alongside the major thoroughfare between Boone and Wilkesboro. But when North Carolina built the new highway, Wildcat was suddenly situated on Old Highway 421. And you can’t make a living without customers swinging through the front door.
“It hurt us in the beginning because out customers from Charlotte, Asheville and out of state couldn’t find us and they’d call up and ask ‘Where are you? We can’t find you; we’re headed toward Wilkesboro right now!’ and we’d have to give them directions,” said Richardson.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) wasn’t any help.
“They absolutely refused to give any help putting signs up,” added Richardson. “And there isn’t a scenic highway in North Carolina that has a speed limit of 55,” she said, referring to the NC DOT’s reason for disallowing signage.
DOT also removed the sign on the Blue Ridge Parkway that led visitors to Highway 421, citing that it wasn’t 421 anymore. But after Richardson appealed the decision, the sign was put back up.
Some of her vendors put signs up on the new Highway 421, but DOT made them take them down. Finally, the state put up an Old Highway 421 directional sign for motorists out of Wilkesboro, but not until after constant lobbying from Richardson.
“I mean, what’s the big deal?” asked Richardson. “I wrote to the governor; they passed the buck. I learned that you have to fight for everything, that you can’t just sit back and wait, that you have to put some effort in to make them do something—and then they don’t always do it. They want to sit back and do nothing, that’s the worst part. You start at the top and they pass the buck down to the little guy and you have to keep after them. Virginia Foxx was a big help.”
When people call now who are lost, Wildcat employees tell them to look for the Parkway School sign or signs for Old Highway 421.
“But it’s very frustrating for these people because they know the flea market after so many years and they can’t find it,” said Richardson. “So we’re starting to get our old customers back again after two years or more.”
Wildcat also lost some vendors, but Richardson still has retailers who have been with her for upwards of 15 or 20 years.
In the first years of the flea market, Richardson handled the business herself—stocking the market with monthly shipments from Jack when he came up from Florida. But when he entered his 50s, he retired and moved back to Deep Gap. Richardson admittedly wondered how working and living with her husband 24 hours a day would work, “but it worked out fine,” she said.
“God has given him a bunch of energy. He works like a 60-year-old constantly,” she added. “And God bless that son of mine; he’s got a bunch of energy too. My husband wants me to retire and give up the flea market, but I say I’m not ready yet.”
Richardson is looking forward to another 5 to 10 years at the flea market.
“At least I hope so. I love it. I really do,” said Richardson, who enjoys seeing the old and new faces come through the doors in the morning. “It’s a meeting place for everybody; it’s family oriented,” she said.
And Richardson has also had some help from her friends. Vendors Lona and Jan are her good friends, “and they are just wonderful. Between them and Kevin, they take a lot of work off my shoulders and I don’t have a lot of work to do. I love to work with them. We have a lot of fun—a lot,” she said.
“I could write a book; I tell ya’ we’ve had some weird people there over the years,” said Richardson, who, with the help of Jack and Kevin, handle all delinquent vendors and rent evaders by themselves. “Yep, weird with the good.”
And business is still good after 34 years.
“We’ll have someone vacate a unit and we rent it the same day or the next day; it’s crazy!” said Richardson.
“Interesting business,” she laughed.
Wildcat Flea Market is located at 5762 old Highway 421 in Deep Gap. It is open from the first Friday in May to the end of October every year, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Fridays and from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information, call Wildcat Flea Market at 828-264-7757.
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