Thursday, August 13, 2015

The Value Village of Panajachel

Back home in Canada, we have a wonderful, smelly, fluorescent-lit heaven called Value Village. It's a second-hand paradise, stuffed full with clothes, toys, shoes, and more knick-knacks that you can shake a knick-knack-a-paddy-whack stick at. :)
Not to long after we arrived in Panajachel, we discovered that the town is in love with second-hand stores, called pacas, and the king of the pacas is this one!
Sorry, the yellow arrow doesn't exist in real life. :)
The front entrance of the store seems a bit dim and unimpressive, but when you venture inside, it opens up into a huge room of other people's junk, a.k.a. treasures.
The view from the back corner of the store.
Most of the second-hand stores in Pana focus on clothes, with just a few other items. This store is the opposite, and makes good use of its floor space to showcase larger items. There is a center section that seems to be their feature area. They'll get bulk shipments of certain items and display them there on the floor, such as bikes, chairs, couches, and this week, big ol' TVs.
In the back corner where the above picture was taken are all the second hand toys. If I knew anything about toy values, I think I might make a fortune buying stuff and reselling it to collectors. I'm always entertained by the interesting things I find in the piles of plastic, fur, and moldy boxes.
What the heck is that?
 I remember loving Richard Scarry's books as a child.
So if you're in Panajachel and looking for some china cups, Christmas ornaments, or baseball caps with strange company names on them, look no further than Variedades Salem! I'll see you in there. :D

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