BRADENTON – For most vendors at the Red Barn Flea Market in Bradenton, you’re there just a few days a week.
“It’s not like a full time job; it’s a hobby,” says Ahmed Bako, owner of AB Gaming.
Bako had a hard time finding a job a couple years ago.
“I went to college for entrepreneurship, but I never got anything related to my field.”
It wasn’t until he took an old system of his to another flea market that he found some success selling video games and consoles, and started AB Gaming.
He collects most of the items you can buy in the store. When Red Barn reopened after the COVID lockdown, he knew his shop was perfect for the time.
“Everybody is home doing nothing; all they wants to do play video games,” he snaps his fingers, “I’ve got the right stuff for you. Come and see me.”
You can find a lot of hard-to-find items from the Odyssey home video system, a system we later found out is from the 1970s, to the Sony Playstation 5 which is Ahmed’s and not for sale. But the most unique thing that you can’t find anywhere else is Dan’s chair.
This chair is Dan’s. If he’s not hanging outside of his parents’ booth down the hallway, you’ll find him playing, by himself, far removed from everyone else.
The way he likes it.
And if he’s not there, odds are no one else is. It started around a year after Ahmed moved to the Suncoast. Dan started to come inside his booth.
“And he kicked me out,” Bako says, “And I looked at him. I was like, ‘Who are you? Why are you trying to kick me out of my booth?’ He didn’t say anything.”
Turns out, Dan is autistic. And while many subtypes of autism exist, loosely speaking, people with autism have trouble with social skills, speech, and nonverbal communication. Despite how young Dan looks, he’s actually 30. So since he’s not in school, his parents take him with them to work to give him frequent supervision.
“He can see someone walk in here eating their food, he will just go and grab their food. They will poke him with the fork, you know like, ‘Don’t touch my food.’ I have to go to the customer and be like, ‘He’s autistic; he doesn’t get it,'” Bako says.
Those issues convinced him and a then-vendor at Red Barn to make a sign for him.
The sign reads, “My name is Dan. I am autistic and unable to speak. I don’t understand many things that everyone takes for granted. Please be patient with me if I behave differently than what you would expect. I honestly don’t know any better. Thank you for understanding and your support.”
“If you don’t have anybody related to you who has autism, I don’t know how to explain it. It’s hard,” says Bako.
Dan began to spend quite a bit of time at Ahmed’s booth. You’d be forgiven if you thought he was employed here.
“He liked rearranging everything. If he sees something crooked, he will just get in there, kick me out,” Bako jokes.
Dan’s parents, who politely declined an interview, eventually approached Ahmed and thanked him. Dan has so many games at home but never plays them. So instead of just standing around all day, he can head right down the hallway and have time to play until the market closes.
So Ahmed made this special spot for Dan.
Dan’s Chair: Please Don’t Sit Here. All the games he likes to play are available here.
If Ahmed catches you sitting in the chair, he’ll politely ask you to get up so Dan can sit. As far as his business goes, he says he doesn’t make much at all. But part of what keeps him here are the people who visit, including Dan.
“I’m only here on the weekends, so it doesn’t really hurt me to just open the place for people to enjoy themselves, you know? You have to do some good somehow.”