The best dollar store of your life

I joined a gym here in Spain partly to give me something to do aside from my job and partly to prevent gaining weight this year. After making this decision, I realized I would need a small bag to bring my gym clothes to work because we still are not in our apartment yet. It was during the search for a cheap gym bag that Jose took me to what he referred to as 'un chino.' Some kind of Chinese fortune teller or guru who knows where to get a good deal you might ask? Nope. Imagine the biggest and best dollar store of your life, a labyrinth of inexpensive random crap sold by as it was explained to me, mostly Chinese people (hence the name: un/el chino). Now just to clarify, not everything costs a dollar or even just a euro but the sheer quantity of unnecessary stuff makes up for this fault. In 'el chino' you can buy everything from make up to ties, picture frames to toys, curtains to school supplies. As I wandered aimlessly through the aisles I couldn't help but think, a. who needs all this crap? and b. it's so cheap, doesn't that by default make me need it? As a person who grew up going to garage sales, flea markets and thrift stores I was in heaven. Couldn't I use an incredibly ugly and poorly painted figure of an unknown saint for tles eulo (please take note of accent)? Isn't that set of cutlery calling my name? There had to be Herro Kitty here! In the end, I just found my bag and made my way to the counter to pay and avoid any more temptation. In front of me in line was an older Spanish woman, one who was attempting to haggle down the price of whatever it was she was buying. As she claimed, she came to shop here EVERYDAY and I couldn't help but flash forward to myself in 30 years, wandering around el chino with my badly dyed hair in a muumuu and orthopedic shoes attempting to argue with the cashier about an ashtray that cost 75 cents. Then I remembered why I was there, I had joined a gym. There was still hope. I wasn't going to become her one day but you can be sure that I will be back to el chino, the bargain mecca soon.

Here are some of the gems I found at one store:




Comments

  1. ChrissieSeptember 5, 2010 at 6:14 AM

    I insist that this make it onto our itinerary when I am there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kate GreenburgSeptember 8, 2010 at 1:03 PM

    In Italy we have 99 centesimi stores, and you can buy your groceries there!

    ReplyDelete

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