It wasn’t at all what I expected and I’m now just a little bit addicted and can’t wait to return
When I told my friends I was off to an Ikea car boot sale they looked a little puzzled and I have to say I don’t blame them – visions of pushing and shoving with other people to try and grab bits of a Billy bookcase to then wonder how to put it back together when I got home did not appeal to me but I was curious to investigate.
How I have progressed to middle age without ever having been to a car boot sale is also a puzzle – as I child I loved jumble sales in the local church hall and I am often seen rummaging around in charity shops on the lookout for a bargain.
But my future trip to a boot sale was not met with excitement at home – we have worked hard recently to declutter so it was suggested as I left the house that really only things that were attractive or useful should be coming back in – I was a little worried I didn’t fit that criteria so maybe I wouldn’t be getting back in too!
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It was unclear what time the car boot sale actually started for buyers, I saw the start time online as 8am and 9am, so I left at 7.20am and drove through appalling rain and wind, and through a network of worrying pot holes on the A4232, to arrive at my destination.
There was a slight ‘car queue’ to park under the actual Ikea store as there was a very helpful woman with a clipboard directing sellers to the location of their car boot ‘pitch’ and buyers to the general parking. She later told me that she worked for Ikea to make sure the event ran smoothly, and it did.
Of course being under cover is a massive bonus that, being a novice, I hadn’t really thought about until one seller told me that at another boot sale last weekend the weather was so bad it had to be abandoned. Ensure our latest news and sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings
One aspect of the event where I wasn’t dozy was realising that I needed cash on me to buy any bargains, but I was a little internally embarrassed that I thought there would be Ikea stuff there too – there wasn’t, it was a car boot sale at Ikea not by Ikea, but there were plenty of other things for sale to distract me from my foolishness.
Usually held on the last two Sundays of the month the car boot sales are part of the Ikea’s sustainability strategy, aligning with the commitment to becoming a circular business by 2030, including encouraging customers to reuse and recycle products rather than throwing them away whilst helping consumers navigate the cost-of-living crisis with budget-friendly options.
Other initiatives in the strategy include the company’s buy back and resell service and circular hub inside the store which I’ve always known as, and called, bargain corner.
Since January 2025 Ikea Cardiff have asked sellers for a £5 donation to support local charity ‘Shelter Cymru’ and the stall pitch needs to be booked in advance as they sell out, and it is free for buyers to attend. The store is, of course, closed at the time of the boot sale so there are no toilet facilities.
At first I sat in the car as I could see only about 60% of the seller pitches were occupied but then I could see buyers wondering around – early birds looking to catch the best worms – so I joined them and started at one end of the nearest of the three rows of stalls that ran the width of the store.
As more sellers arrived and started putting their items out, on trestle tables, on rugs or plastic sheets on the floor, on mobile shelving units, on rails, and in containers I was almost mown down by a swarm of people rushing by me to be the first to see the ‘fresh’ items and that was a pattern I witnessed during the 90 minutes I stayed.
One particular stall was so busy that as soon as the boot was opened and emptied people barged past me to join the growing crowd gathering around it, and I never got to see what they were actually selling – that will remain a mystery.
I spotted a little pine set of drawers I thought I could sand and upcycle and dived in with my first purchase – it was £2 and I was caught up in the excitement of bagging a bargain, some readers will totally understand the thrill while others will think I’ve wasted my money on buying someone else’s ‘tat’.
There was a whole range of items for sale across the stalls, with children’s toys and clothes popular items, but most stalls offered an array of goods rather than a theme. Of those with a focus I saw a stall with tools, one mainly jewellery, and one selling Marvel, super hero, and pop culture artwork.
One of the more unusual items I saw was a trumpet, which was bought by a very happy woman who wandered off with a big beam on her face. I also spotted a telephone pull along toy that took me right back to my childhood, plus one stall had a range of different coloured cowboy hats.
Potentially the award for the most unusual item was a box of laxatives (I’m not kidding) but then I rather bizarrely saw a massage table, or maybe it was a doctor’s examination, and that secured the win.
Things I realised as the morning progressed was that I needed to get very close to each stall to see everything, not to miss anything smaller or partially hidden, and that is how I spotted the Little Miss Chatterbox mug for 50p, perfect for me as I think chatting should be an Olympic sport as well as ideal for my morning brew.
The other thing I noticed was I was starting to get picky on quality as my money started to dwindle, which is maybe a bit ridiculous as everything was so cheap, I also had to rein myself in as I was starting to try and find a reason to buy things just because they were one or two pounds.
My biggest purchase was at the stall I liked the most as a significant amount of the product was vintage china and pottery – my weakness.
I spotted a Celtic design pottery set – four mugs, a jug and a sugar bowl – but it was £10. I waited until the crowd of around 200 buyers began to dwindle and started to circle like a shark desperately hungry for another pottery set I’m never going to use.
I struck when the stall was quiet and went in with a £8 haggle – I’ve never done that before either and, to my great joy for my newly found confidence to go in at a lower price, it was accepted.
I’m now looking at my haul – that I am very pleased with for a first timer – and wondering if it fits the family’s criteria, I may have to sneak my bargains into the house under the cover of darkness.
I told one seller that this was my first time at a car boot sale and she laughed and warned me about getting addicted – there is every chance that is going to happen.
Another seller chuckled and said she was once a buyer but she had been to so many boot sales that now she had to become a seller just to clear out the clutter, so maybe one day I too will be on the other side of that trestle table in the Ikea car park.
