Kobey’s Swap Meet, the hustling, bustling outdoor market where customers can snare a caged canary, snap up hard-to-find church pews or Vietnam War artifacts and drool over countless knick-knacks and collectibles, continues to flex its collective muscles at the San Diego Sports Arena after 30 years of bargain-basement deals. The sprawling swap meet has been a family-run affair since its inception, and offers up a feeding frenzy of consumerism where bargain-seekers stalk, treasure hunters pan and vendors earn livings while performing feats of salesmanship on an asphalt stage seen by tens of thousands. The late Montey Kobey originally launched the swap meet in 1976 in the parking lot of what was then the Midway Drive-In movie theater with perhaps 30 sellers. Four years later — in 1980 — the drive-in theater closed, prompting Kobey to relocate about 1,600 feet to the east to the parking lot of the San Diego Sports Arena, 3500 Sports Arena Blvd. From those humble beginnings, the swap meet grew from its initial three-dozen sellers to today’s slate of 600 to 1,000 vendors, who lure an average of 10,000 to 15,000 shoppers Fridays through Sundays every week, according to Kimberly Kobey-Pretto, president and CEO of Kobey’s Swap Meet. Kobey-Pretto is the daughter of Montey Kobey. “Over time, the size of the market shrinks and expands along with the economy,” Kobey-Pretto said. “When the economy was fat a few years back, people still came out in droves to shop. Now, it’s a little different, with people shopping with the bargain in mind. You need to come one time and you will get hooked.” Kobey-Pretto took over as president in 1988, the year before her father passed away. She said she was a manager-in-the-making since the age of 12, working with Montey all the time and learning from how he ran the event. “My son, Tony, who is 21 years old, is here working all the time also, learning the ins and outs,” Kobey-Pretto said. “I see a lot of my dad in him and I’m happy to see that he has taken such an interest in the event.” One Kobey’s Swap Meet vendor is William Gregory, who first met Monte at the “Hula Bowl” — an outdoor market in Honolulu, Hawaii — in 1984. Gregory was on a layover to Australia at the time. “I overheard someone talking about a big swap meet in San Diego,” Gregory said. “As I was a San Diego native now and at the time, I walked over to Montey, introduced myself, and he told me all about his market in an exuberant and excited way.” Gregory said he left his career as a photo muralist when the digital photo revolution came about in the 1990s. Since 1995, Gregory has been selling “anything and everything of value,” going by the mantra “quality is always in demand” — a phrase echoed on his business card. Gregory claims to drive 100 miles a day searching thrift stores and garage sales with a sharpened sense of finding something for everyone, with items ranging from nautical equipment from old ships to carved wooden art from the Ivory Coast to movie props. “I am out here at 6 a.m. every Sunday to sell,” Gregory said during an interview at a recent Kobey’s Swap Meet. “Today has been an average day so far. I’ve made around $500 to $800. On good days, I can make as much as $2,500, but those days are all-star days. “Kobey’s Swap Meet is a money-making enterprise and a wonderful institution,” he said. “It has been a godsend. So many people make their living out here. They pay their rent and put their kids through school, all due to the opportunity that Kobey’s Swap Meet provides.” Some of the swap meet’s vendors have even deeper roots with the ongoing, 30-year-old event. Rose and Susel — who wished not give their last names but who have been married for 60 years — are reportedly the oldest vendors at the swap meet. Rose, who speaks with traces of a Polish accent, said the couple came to San Diego from New York, and that Susel, 96, had been selling at Kobey’s Swap Meet on and off for 25 years. “The buying and selling of all these things has been an obsession of his,” Rose said. “We usually wake up around 3 a.m., get all of our stuff organized, pack lunches so that we can get here around 4:30 a.m. to beat the crowd and get a good spot in the lot.” Rose and Susel specialize in a wide variety of fishing gear, like rods, spools of line and an assortment of colorful hooks, bobs and bait. Susel also has hundreds of different types of wooden pipes, which Rose said are both functional and decorative. “The motorcycle guys like our thick, silver jewelry and heavy, authentic belt buckles, as well,” Rose said,gesturing toward the shiny metal objects in a glass display case. Kobey’s Swap Meet runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the sports arena parking lot. For more information, visit www.kobeyswap.com.