The famous Lille flea market returns this weekend from September 14 to 15 for a 2024 edition postponed by one week due to the Paralympic Games. An expected return for bargain hunters who will be numerous in the streets of the capital of Flanders.
On your marks, get set, bargain hunt! This weekend of September 14-15 marks the return of the Lille flea market. A 2024 edition that has been long awaited, since for the first time in its history, the event has been postponed by a week due to the Paralympic Games.
The festivities will start on Saturday 14th at 8am before ending on Sunday 15th September at 6pm. The most seasoned dealers will not be disoriented during this 2024 edition, the scope of which is essentially the same as the previous year.
This will spread over 400 hectares with more than 60 kilometers of stalls and around 5,500 exhibitors who will take place mainly in the districts of Old Lille, the city center and Wazemmes where 2.5 million visitors are expected.
To enter the area, which will be surrounded by 1,200 tons of concrete and 1,500 conventional barriers, numerous access points are being set up. They will be controlled by the 750 agents of my city, assisted by the police. In this flea market sector, 2,000 police officers and gendarmes supported by 180 municipal police officers will ensure security and the smooth running of the event.
• The different sectors for bargain hunting
Once in the pedestrian streets, visitors can go bargain hunting. Lille city centre is divided into different thematic sectors. “The China Axis”, a section dedicated to 500 professional second-hand dealers and antique dealers, extends from the façade of the esplanade to rue Saint-Sauveur, via boulevard de la Liberté and boulevard Louis XIV. The children’s flea market will take place at the Saint-Sauveur train station on Saturdays from 8am to 7pm.
Eight streets have been added this year to the flea market area, including in the Nouveau Siècle area and on Place Mendès France. On Avenue du Peuple Begle, it will now be possible to flea market up to the Pont-Neuf.
“We have slightly increased the number of streets because there has been an increase in demand for spaces in these areas,” Jacques Richir, deputy mayor of Lille, in charge of organising the sale, told BFMTV.com.
New for the 2023 edition, the Broc’ à vélos is back on Saturdays in the Wazemmes district, on Place de la Nouvelle-Aventure. Two-wheel lovers will be able to buy or sell second-hand bikes during the day. “You can find bikes for between 60 and 80 euros. But you have to be quick, because last year, everything went very quickly,” emphasizes the deputy mayor. The Palais des Beaux-Arts will host the comic book sale.
Not far from there, on the Place de la République, the reuse sale will be held where ten associations will raise awareness among Bradeux about the benefits of reusing objects.
For this 2024 edition, the village of associations will be installed for the first time inside the town hall, place Augustin Laurent, due to the continuation of work on rue Pierre Mauroy and the areas around the Porte de Paris.
If you are looking for second-hand items, you can find them in the merchants’ village, Place Rihour, where 2,000 shops sell their products at discounted prices. “We authorize these sales of new goods in order to support our merchants,” emphasizes Jacques Richir. Note that the Lille Zoo and the Hospice Comtesse museum will be closed during the sale.
• The car to avoid for getting around
If you are a motorist, driving and parking will be completely prohibited in the flea market area from Friday at 7 p.m. until Monday at 1 a.m.
“It’s the same model as usual, but we’ll be very careful on Friday evening to ensure that the city can function, because the flea market starts on Saturday,” Jacques Richir said during a press briefing on August 22. “We need to be able to close the 400 hectares of the flea market area as early as Friday evening,” he added.
For those wishing to come by car, park and ride facilities will be open next to the Porte des Postes, Porte d’Arras, Saint-Philibert and Cité Scientifique metro stations.
“Vehicles parked in public car parks inside the security perimeter may neither enter nor leave from Friday September 13 at 7 p.m. to Monday September 16 at 6 a.m.,” the town hall wrote in a press release consulted by BFMTV.com.
Users of V’Lille, Ilévia’s self-service bicycle service, will also have to adapt. The stations will be completely closed within the perimeter of the flea market. Additional bicycle racks will be installed at certain entrance doors.
The metro will therefore be the preferred option to get to the flea market. For this edition, Ilévia is strengthening its weekend offer. On Friday, September 13, the metro will be reinforced and will run later, with a last departure at 1:30 a.m. from Lille Flandres Station, instead of midnight.
“On Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September, both lines will operate without interruption, including at night, from 5am on Saturday morning until 12:30am on Sunday,” the Lille transport network said in a press release. Line 1 (yellow) will run with a frequency of one train every 1min30 from Friday to Sunday. On line 2 (red), the frequency will be one train every 2min45 from Friday to Sunday.
As with the metro, the tram schedule will also be increased. The trams will run longer on Fridays, with the last departure at 1:20 a.m. from Gare Lille Flandres to Roubaix and 1:30 a.m. to Tourcoing. They will also run all night from Saturday to Sunday.
Around fifty additional TER trains will crisscross the Hauts-de-France region with a special clearance price.
• Opening hours of restaurants, bars and terraces
The Lille flea market is also an opportunity for the flea market traders to celebrate. According to Jacques Richir, this edition promises to be “intense”, because for the first time, all the students from Lille will be present.
Bars, restaurants and terraces will close at 2 a.m. Establishments will be allowed to play music with the door open, but only until midnight. The municipality authorizes professionals in the sector to deploy marquees and flea market-type furniture, but prohibits beer pumps and premixes.
On Saturdays, bars and restaurants will be able to stay open all night if they wish. However, terraces and extensions will have to close at 2 a.m. at a time when playing music with the door open is no longer tolerated. Beer pumps will be able to be used from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
On Sundays, bars and restaurants will be able to close at 1 a.m. at the latest, terraces at 11 p.m. Beer pumps will be allowed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• A responsible event
With a view to protecting the environment, the Lille municipality wanted to strengthen the eco-responsible nature of the flea market. To do this, the city has notably banned the sale and provision of single-use plastic products, such as cups. To ensure the cleanliness of the streets, 24 skips and 250 containers have been placed in the city.
A redistribution of unsold food in partnership with the associations, Linkee, Croix-Rouge, L’île de la Solidarité, La Sauvegarde, Les Restos du cœur, ABEJ and La Cloche, will also be carried out after the sale. Since 2023, unsold food has been collected from Lille traders in order to be redistributed in the form of meals or baskets.
Bargain hunters will once again be able to enjoy the event’s signature meal: mussels and fries. As every year, several tons of shells will be deposited in front of the restaurants.
Once the sale is over, the mussel shells will be collected by the city services, but they will not end up in the trash. The company will take care of cleaning, grinding and crushing the black shells to make slats for benches.
Despite a changed date, the 2024 edition is already a great success. This year, the municipality has 5,000 requests for space, compared to 4,606 exhibitors at the 2023 sale.
