With new lease, O.C. Market Place looks to recharge

As retail trends change, open-air markets in great cities of the world — London, Barcelona, Munich, Paris — continue to prosper like they have for ages.

This, according to Jeff Teller, president of the Orange County Market Place and Tel Phil Enterprises, is part of why he sees his business as so time-honored.

“The open-air market has been thriving throughout the beginning of time, since man had items to take to market,” he said. “This is the most tried-and-true method of retail sales opportunity that exists.”

For decades, the Market Place has been a staple of the Orange County fairgrounds. Most weekends of the year, thousands descend on the 150-acre property in Costa Mesa to sell their wares, find something new from hundreds of vendors and be entertained by a variety of musical lineups.

A recent lease renewal approved by state authorities and the Fair Board, the fairgrounds’ governing body, is keeping the Market Place in town for as long as 20 years.

With that locked in place, Teller says the Market Place can begin a reinvigoration and revitalization, with plans to enhance food and produce offerings at the farmers market, as well as make a bigger push onto social media to stay relevant with younger generations.

Bob Teller, Teller’s father and owner of Tel Phil, summarized the future with a back-to-basics approach that’s about “value, value, value and more value. We know how to do that.”

That approach will include a “Treasure Island” section of the Market Place. The folks selling there “want to clean closets and clean garages,” Bob Teller said.

There’s also finding the next wave of entrepreneurs.

“I don’t want to just have more of the same of what I have,” Teller said. “I want to have people doing things that are different, interesting and unique — and they’re out there.”

Teller noted that Tilly’s and Jack’s Surfboards got their start in the Market Place, as did the Plant Stand, which now has a storefront in Costa Mesa.

“We’ve [given] birth to many multimillion-dollar businesses,” he said. “That’s probably the single greatest [thing] that, as a company, we take pride in.”

The Market Place was founded in 1969 by Bob Teller under the name Treasures and Trash. The business grew at a compounded rate of 42% for the first 25 years, Teller noted, and has given $132 million back to the fairgrounds in its history. The new lease, Teller said, will give at least $43 million back.

Things haven’t always been so rosy, however. In 2011, amid a politicized environment over the contested sale of the fairgrounds and some declines in the Market Place, the Fair Board voted to evict the organization. Within a few months the board reversed its decision, and by 2013 relationships between Teller and the board had calmed.

Fair Board Chairman Stan Tkaczyk called Teller’s operation a “cornerstone” of the property. Tkaczyk said that as a young man he sold wares at the Market Place.

One of his goals since joining the board has been to keep the swap meet intact.

“And that goal was met,” Tkaczyk said. “I think it’s an intricate part of bringing back stability and calming the waters for the O.C. Fair & Event Center because of what took place in the past.”