Let's face it. Shopping isn't always about getting a new toy, or a sparkly, or something practical like food.
Sometimes, shopping is just about exploring, finding, discovering new things, ... mocking. The modern retail chain has taken most of the fun out of this kind of shopping; every store has the same exact stuff, in nearly the same place (even when you're in a whole different chain!). Sure, it makes it easy to find what you want, but the mystery is gone. Thrift store shopping brings that back with a vengeance. Sure, you could look for hours without finding something you want to touch, much less buy, but the thrill of the hunt is back.
I'll start my blog off with one of my favorite examples of this type of shopping. This store has no name and no posted hours. It's on Pipeline Road where Brown Trail ends, between Elrod's and a Dollar General. Google map link if you want to go there:
The unnamed junk store
I don't know when they are open, but I've had my best luck on weekdays. You can tell they're open because they pull a bunch of stuff onto the sidewalk.
This is the sort of place that looks like it could be a setting for a dickensian fantasy story, or a scavenger hunt. I'm not sure how they manage to get two aisles through part the store; I suspect magic, or sufficiently advanced technology. Go through the first part of the store to where the main aisle takes a jog to the right; if you can get past the bed frame and bicycles (you may need a rope) you get to an even narrower section that has a sign about 20 feet away saying "Don't go past this sign". I'm not sure you can actually get TO the sign.
This place has clothes (but you won't be able to try them on), books, piles of computer keyboards and other computer peripherals of dubious working status, lots of dishes and other housewares and various decorative things (lots of lamps straight out of the 80s). The most interesting things are out of reach, and may require rock climbing gear to get to.
While you're here, check out Elrod's for a wide variety of Hispanic groceries, especially things like real chorizo and authentic Mexican cheeses.
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