TV Shows, Web Sites Making Flea Markets Trendier Places.

L.A. flea markets have become trendy, pricey and increasingly competitive.

Spurred by the popularity of the PBS show "Antiques Roadshow," along with clones like Home & Garden TV's "Collectible Treasures" and the eBay Web site, Angelenos are heading off in search of their own treasure.

"It's really helping business," said Chris Eckert, the owner of Eckert's General Store Antique Mart in Los Alamitos, who operates booths at the Rose Bowl and Long Beach flea markets. "We get a lot of customers who come here to shop after seeing 'Roadshow.'"

"Things have changed," agreed Shane Brown, owner of Big Daddy Antiques and another regular vendor at the Rose Bowl and Santa Monica flea markets. "With eBay and the 'Antiques Roadshow,' everyone thinks they have the incredible $150,000 piece, and it's only worth $150."

"Antiques Roadshow," which started airing almost three years ago, has recently become a bit of a cultural phenomenon. It's currently the top-rated PBS series, with 14 million viewers a week.

The show features a traveling troupe of antiques and collectibles experts putting dollar values on everything from grandma's Wedgwood Blue tea set to Egyptian artifacts.

Enough people are shown making windfalls from stuff discovered in attics and garages that hordes of viewers are now checking their own homes for valuable items.

The bad news is, dealers are spending more for their stock.

The obsession with anything vintage has led to more and more competition, says Donald Moger, president of Americana Enterprises, which sponsors the Long Beach flea market at Veterans Stadium. "What it has engendered is a lot more competition from other flea markets. There seems to be a plethora of them in Los Angeles."

Garage sales have always been a popular Saturday-morning activity in Los Angeles for bargain hunters looking for vintage finds. Now many have become competitive mini-swap meets in their own right, with amateur sellers charging more and holding onto things that don't fetch as high a price as they'd like.

Brown said people holding estate and garage sales are also more savvy after watching the TV shows and logging onto Web sites. He reports losing many regular collectors to online services. "Now they're buying from eBay, and it's cutting out the middle man, which is me," Brown said.

Still, it's a growth industry. Brown said he gave up his antique store a couple of years ago when he found he was making more from one day of selling at a flea market than he did during a month at his store in South Redondo Beach.

"Not too many stores get 10,000 customers in a month," he said.

Now he spends his weekdays at estate sales and traveling abroad, looking for the vintage furniture and French and English garden fixtures that sell so well.