Ever since World War II, as our economy increased, Americans have done more shopping. Stores answered this call by doubling and tripling in number and in size.

Big stores bring in the most customers. Orangeburg's -- and one of the state's biggest -- pulls in 2,000 or more every Saturday and Sunday. Located three miles across the River, the Orangeburg Flea Market thrives harder and faster than the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul or the "Square of the Dead" in Marrakech, Morocco.

Several open markets started in town before 1982, but did not last. Hubert "Buck" Chambers and wife, Doris, lived in Richmond, Va. where he worked for 25 years as an auctioneer. In 1970, they came to Orangeburg to visit his sister and considered starting a small business. They liked the general looks of local towns and country so much they decided to move to Denmark and open a fabrics store.

But will it work?

It did well for 13 years until, desiring less working days, they began talking about a flea market in Orangeburg. It would draw from Bowman, Elloree, Norway ... many surrounding towns. The three-day week instead of six sounded tempting.

On a trip over, they saw a sale sign in the center of six acres out on 301. The next week, they bought it. A contractor cleared away the trees and leveled the site. Another built the first open shed, 200 feet long. Buck and a group of men he hired put together several dozen display tables.

But in spite of the excitement, one thought dogged them. Would it work? Would Orangeburg people like a flea market?

They spread the word with advertisements: "Come and bring anything you want to sell! Open Saturdays 10 'til six, Sundays, 10:30 'til dark."

It worked! The pickups and merchandise-crammed cars began arriving on opening day soon after daybreak. Dozens of customers came early and sat waiting an hour or more until opening time. Many of the vendors had vended before, others were trying it for the first time. They paid their $7 per table fee ($10 today), backed up on the outsides of the shed and began unloading jewelry, slogan T-shirts, a.jpgicial flowers and room rugs. First-time sellers set out fresh vegetables, mewing kittens, old toasters and bundles of kindling.

Exciting feast

That was 25 years ago and the flea market has been going strong ever since. Doris still owns it. Her son Eddie runs it.

An addition had to be built on the shed the first year, and several more since. It now stretches out longer than three football fields. On Saturdays and Sundays, wandering down the central aisle is an exciting feast of a hundred thousand or more man-made objects. Pets and produce are the only exceptions.

In some ways the market resembles a museum.

Spread across one table, 50 or more full-sized sword reproductions are displayed with many kinds of fancy pocket knives. The swords have elegant gold-plated handles and guards, and super-elaborate emblems. One, six inches wide and four feet long, looks exactly like Ali Baba's, which he swung around and around at the 40 Thieves. He must have had one of the strongest arms in history, because it weighs at least ten pounds.

On two tables and three walls are some of the most unique rugs in this or any market. For $40, you can buy a 9-by-12 featuring regular designs or a fearsome American Indian chief in dark browns and tan, or a super-sized, sharp-eyed mountain wolf.

On a gift table sits one-foot and two-foot miniature churches created by gluing hundreds of matches together. Wide arrays of the usual flea market items like boxed billfolds and cosmetics are arranged like Army brigades.

"The crowds keep getting bigger in the afternoons," Doris says. "Our drink and french fry stand always has a line. You can get a full meal at Mona's eatery in one of the shorter buildings next door.

"Several of our vendors have been here since we opened. One has had a good, small tool operation going for years. Most of them come from towns nearby, but several drive from Augusta and places farther. A man who sold thousands of TVs eventually became rich enough to retire. We also have half a dozen enclosed stores at the front of the main building whose proprietors are so well established they rent their space permanently.

"Of course, many who rent tables are hoping only to make enough extra cash to meet present living costs beyond their regular salaries.

"We close down the office at four, but the crowds can and do stay on until dark. And we're here all year. Business only falls about 25 percent in February."

Eddie's biggest job is on Mondays and Tuesdays when a crew comes to collect the waste paper, clean the rest rooms and fix anything broken.

"There's always something," he says. "Even closed down, more work is waiting."

Retired editor and public relations executive Thomas Langford's column is titled "Some Edisto stories." Let him know if you have stories to share: 803-534-2097.

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