rachael.jackson@roanoke.com 981-3132

With a pillow propped between her head and the front seat, Edna Mirzayan used to sleep in her red minivan. Even in the cold winter, it was the only way she and her husband Rick Mirzayan could reserve the best spot at Happy's Flea Market on Williamson Road in Roanoke.

"We really needed the money," the Armenian immigrant said recently, recalling her first few years in Roanoke. "That's the only way we could have survived."

Mirzayan, now 37, arrived in the United States in 1986. With limited English, she was one of the first immigrants to tap the potential of Happy's Flea Market. The market opened during the late 1970s on the property of the former Arlen's department store.

Now Happy's is seeing the strongest presence it ever has of Hispanics, but this market, originally a purely Appalachian trading ground, has been helping immigrants ease into life in the United States since about the time Mirzayan unfolded her table and displayed her jewelry and toys.

Just look around. A shop selling motorcycle gear and T-shirts is called "Hopar's Gifts & Things"- "hopar" means "uncle" in Armenian - and is owned by Mirzayan's brother-in-law.

Ryna Kheang, 16, immigrated from Cambodia to help her aunt sell bamboo plants, touch lamps, fans and other items imported from Thailand and Taiwan. Other vendors are from Africa, China and Greece.

And then, of course, there is Mirzayan, who says she would rather be at work in her 10-foot by 30-foot booth at Happy's than sitting at home any day.

Her days of sleeping in her car were few. Propelled by her positive outlook and drive for success, Mirzayan soon opened an indoor branch selling jewelry and gifts. She bought from wholesalers and learned to make her customers feel welcome.

Mirzayan and her family members' shops were also symbolic of another major change in the Happy's landscape: the shift from stands selling garage and attic treasures to actual businesses.

Although there is still a strong presence of people selling antiques and old wares from their homes, more Happy's vendors are operating as full-blown businesses, said Wayne Eubank, 52, who sells electronics and knives.

"Years ago it was just the guys that had some antiques and junk," said Eubank who has been at Happy's since 1978.

Where Eubank remembers men selling horse harnesses and old farm tools, there have sprung businesses peddling decorative bamboo plants and shiny jewelry. The older items are still there, he said, but not in the way they used to be.

But just about everything is still inexpensive. And that's what draws many immigrants to Happy's in the first place.

"Here is cheaper," said refugee Parwana Popan, 19, explaining why she and her mother, Sohaina Popan, 46, who speaks only Persian, frequent Happy's. They left Afghanistan two years ago and live in Roanoke public housing.

With the variety of items for sale at Happy's, newcomers to the United States can quickly furnish apartments and buy basic goods. And for a few dollars more, they can decorate with everything from large fans to paintings to lamps with images of African wildlife.

Mirzayan said she bought a fancy olive-green chair - which she says would have been $1,200 in a store - for $7.

Daphne Hughes, 43, occasionally sells at Happy's. The Covington resident said businesses run by immigrants can be tough competition.

"Half of them can't speak English, but they make money," she said. "They're out here before everyone else, and they're the last ones to leave."

As Hughes spoke, she nodded toward a large stand run by Lisa Wong, 39. Wong, who is from China, lives in New York, but drives to Roanoke every weekend to sell items from soft toilet seats to permanent markers at extremely low prices. She usually has a line of customers and keeps her goods in cardboard boxes marked by the price.

As for Mirzayan, she and her husband eventually expanded their business. They now operate Edna's Gift in Happy's and the Jewelry Connection in Tanglewood Mall and plan to open a third location at Towers Shopping Center in September.

But of all the shops, Mirzayan said she likes working at Happy's the best. The people are the nicest, she said. She's the most comfortable there. When she was hospitalized last year, she said she got more than 50 get-well cards from customers who missed her.

Despite her lack of a formal degree, Mirzayan said she's learned plenty about work and life at Happy's Flea Market.

"Happy's is college," she said.