O¯tara market back after eight months’ absence
HELEN Wiremu has been eagerly waiting for the day when the only tents in the O¯ tara Town Centre car park are the ones filled with fruit, carvings and T-shirts.
It’s been eight months since crowds packed the last O¯ tara flea market haggling and looking for bargains, but yesterday the south Auckland staple is back.
Since early 2020, its home outside the town centre has housed pop-up vaccination and testing stations, leaving little space for one of Auckland’s biggest and most vibrant markets.
‘‘It’s a sense of unity. It’s one of the spots where people come together to meet friends and get together,’’ Wiremu said.
She took over as the market’s operations manager just as the world was engulfed by Covid-19, and said it had been a tough two years for many of the stallholders.
She estimated since the first lockdown in 2020 the market had only managed to be open for about five months all up, meaning a lot of lost income for those who relied on it. ‘‘I’ve had a lot of stallholders struggling to support themselves through this,’’ she said.
The younger stallholders had a much easier time with the change, but some of the older generation needed a helping hand to access government support, Wiremu said.
Rajni Kumar, who sells seedlings at O¯ tara and other markets, said it was one of the biggest, making it a big earner for many vendors.
She has fallen back on her online trade, which has grown since the pandemic hit.
From its humble beginnings in the mid-1970s, the market has grown to be one of south Auckland’s premier attractions.
Auckland councillor Efeso Collins, who grew up in O¯ tara, said it was a place where people ‘‘reconnect, shop and socialise’’ and he was happy to see the market springing back to life.
For someone like Stan Tallon, whose south Auckland-flavoured T-shirts have been a feature at the market for the better part of 20 years, the shutdown was hard. He poured his energy into building an online presence and a network of regular clients.
While it wasn’t an easy decision, he didn’t return for the reopening. However, he was happy to see the market return.
‘‘It’s put food on the table for a lot of people,’’ Tallon said.
And for someone who has long been immersed in the sights, smells and sounds of the market, his advice was to get out there and dive in headfirst. ‘‘Haggle, cut a deal, get some chop suey on rice and some donuts, get the whole experience,’’ he said. ‘‘And if you’ve got some money left over maybe buy some T-shirts.’’