Fantastic Second-Hand Shopping in St. Gallen

Brockis, or Brockenhaus, are thrift shops in German and are very popular and numerous in Switzerland. As a shopper, I would recommend Switzerland as a place to peruse such shops as the merchandise is usually of very high quality. 

In St. Gallen there are a few Brockis, one of which is the Blaukreuz Brockenstube (Blue Cross thrift shop), a three-story second hand shop with proceeds going to support work on alcohol abuse and other social issues. They have an excellent selection of all manner of items including clothing, household items, furniture, books, records, movies, linens, and shoes, all at good prices. 

The have another store in Gais which is great as well but closed in the winter. The rest of the year a visit to the Gais store makes for a great excursion.


Blaukreuz Brockenstube, Turnerstrasse 20, 9000 St Gallen; Tel: 712 222 277; Web: www.blaukreuz-brockenstube.ch; open Monday to Friday from 1:30 to 6:00pm, Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Take the number 7 bus towards Abtwil and get off at the Vonwil stop (3 stops from the Bahnhof). Once off the bus walk in the direction the bus is going to the corner - go right and the Brockenstube is half a block down on the right. For the store in Gais take the Appenzeller Bahnen (train) to the Zweibrucken stop. Happy hunting!

Green Travel Bags for the New Year

It is getting easier all the time to make environmental choices when purchasing items as companies get increasingly creative with incorporating recycled materials into their products. If you are in the market for green luggage and packs, you are in luck. Heys and Osprey are two such companies specializing in travel gear.

Heys, a Toronto based company, has been making innovative luggage for over twenty years. They have two green choices in their luggage line. The sturdy EcoOrbis rolling suitcases are made from 100% recycled ABS plastic. These come in four colors (red, black, lilac and beige) in three standard sizes and have 360º wheels and an aluminum handle. Their EcoTex line is made from recycled water bottles and includes duffle-style and accessory bags.

Heys International ships only in Canada. Heys USA ships to customers in the U.S. At Heys USA you can search by state to find stores that carry the Heys bags. In the U.S. EcoOrbis luggage is called EcoCase. The EcoCase is available in more colors and has a different embossed design on the exterior, but the bags like their Canadian counterparts are made out of 100% recycled ABS plastic.

Osprey packs, makers of excellent backpacks in all shapes and sizes, make a line of day-pack and accessory bags out of 100% recycled PET plastic. Their ReSource line uses recycled content in the mesh pockets, binding tape, webbing, buckles and zipper pulls in addition to the overall bag fabric with a commitment to using at least 70% recycled materials in the bags. This means that while the fabric is 100% recycled material, other components of the bags like the spacer mesh may only be 55% recycled material.

These bags made from recycled materials provide great options for the eco-traveler. We can hope that the future will bring  even more options for  ecological products and conscientious travel. Happy New Year.

New Second-Hand English Bookstore in Valencia

A great new used book store has opened in Valencia a block behind the Plaza de la Reina. KandA Books is named for its friendly owners Kelly and Andy, world travelers who wanted to live in a climate warmer than their native Scotland, and run a business that was helpful not hurtful to the environment.

KandA Books is a small store offering a good selection of mostly English language second-hand books (they also have a small selection of French, Spanish and German titles). They sell outright, but also offer a book exchange program, further encouraging recycling, where they will give you a book credit of 40% of what they think they can sell your book(s) for to be used towards your next purchase.

If you can’t get to the store easily, you can search through all their titles to see if they have what piques your interest at the KandA Web site. When shopping, take note, they only take cash. KandA Books, c/ Tapineria 18, Valencia; Tel: 639 740 746; open every day from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm. 

For other stores in Valencia selling English books see the earlier Traveling Naturally post, Bookstores in Valencia.

Paris Second Hand with a Heart

Emmaus International is a non-profit organization started by a French man, Abbe Pierre, sixty years ago to defend what he considered to be fundamental human rights and to fight against the causes of poverty. Emmaus now boasts 306 groups in 36 countries around the world working to “serve those that suffer most.”

To help fund their array of programs, the French organization has five stores throughout Paris selling second hand goods, the proceeds of which go to support Emmaus’s work around the world. You can find fabulous items in the stores at prices that will not break the bank and are down right cheap for Paris.

I am still kicking myself for not purchasing a fantastic 5-Euro belt for my daughter as a Christmas present. The store was not open yet and I had places to go. I thought I would return, but my wanderings led me elsewhere. Oh well, I can only hope someone else found it and is enjoying it, as well as feeling good about supporting desperately needed global humanitarian work.

Next time you are in Paris and feel the urge to shop find an Emmaus Boutique and shop guilt-free with heart.

See specific store locations and hours in the picture at left.

http://emmaus-international.org

www.emmaus-france.org

Recycling and Reusing in Spain – Second hand and more

Recycling containers are dotted throughout Spanish cities and towns, sometimes next to the garbage dumpsters and sometimes separate. In some fancier communities you will find extensive options for recycling including the pictured receptacle for small items like batteries, cds, light bulbs and ink cartridges.

If you are looking for used items and are not quite up to dumpster diving – or the dumpsters are not providing what you want- there are stores and markets selling used items. Happy hunting!

In the Barcelona suburb of Sant Cugat you can find a variety of antique, used and flea vendors and a full on market the first Sunday of every month. The roughly eighty permanent stalls of the Mercantic are open Tuesday to Saturday 9:30 am to 8:00pm and Sunday from 9:30 am to 3:00pm. You can find just about anything here from furniture, antique typewriters, tools, weapons, art work and plenty more. Book lovers will enjoy the Llibreria El Siglo Mercantic in the heart of things selling books of all varieties and themes with a bar and often live music. Mercantic, Rius i Taulet, 120, 08173 Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona); 936 744 950; E-mail: info@mercantic.com; http://www.mercantic.cat

The non-profit Rastrell Reciclatge is near the Jardines del Real and the Jardins de Turia just across the bridge Pont de Trinitat from the historic old city center of Valencia. Rastrell sells a variety of used goods with the definite purpose of recycling and reusing. Rastrell Reciclatge, c/Vuelta del Ruiseñor 21, 46010 Valencia; 963 623 509; open Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 2:30 pm/5:00 to 8:00 pm, Saturday from10:00 am to 2:00pm.

Also in Valencia you will find Second Market-Just Price sells a variety of used items from electronics to bikes, some clothes, and camping gear, as well as cds, dvds, and books with many English titles, so it is a great place to find a cheap read. Second Market, C/ Russafa 20, 46004 Valencia; 963 940 652; open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00pm/4:30-8:30 pm.

The B. Market is a good sized second hand store with everything from bikes to musical instruments with entrances on Avenida del Puerto and Islas Canarias in Valencia. You can take the #4 bus which runs along Ave. del Puerto from the old city, or get off the metro at Ayora. The B. Market, Avda del Port 202, 46023, Valencia. Open Monday to Saturday 10:00 am to 2:00pm/5:00 to 9:00pm

There is a small secondhand clothing store in the old city center of Valencia around the corner from the HI Youth hostel. Marropa (ropa de 2a mano), C/ Serranos 29, Valencia; open Monday to Friday 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m./5:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Find fun vintage, new and gently used clothes, shoes and accessories at Vintage Police on a side street just a block or so from the old Silk Exchange (Lonja). Vintage Police, c/ Cajeros 2, 46001 Valencia; http://tienda.vintagepolice.com; open Monday to Saturday from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm/5:00 to 8:30 pm.

There is a chain of three second-hand stores called Cash Converters. Locations are dotted around Valencia city. Easiest is to Google and see where the stores are.

There is rummage to be had at the Monday morning market on the streets around Valencia's Mercado Central. Often every item will go for 3 euros or so and you can paw through a bizarre mix of used and new clothing. Sometimes there is bedding as well.

The Ultimate Recycling – Dumpster Diving

A common pastime in Spanish cities is what I fondly refer to as Dumpster Diving. For some it is actually an occupation. These people sell their finds at the Sunday flea markets (flea emphasized) and on some side streets. Shoes are especially popular. These are of course well-worn shoes and we can only hope for the sake of their new owners that they have not been in the dumpsters too long.

Men and women get into the dive and sort seriously – unabashedly laying out their finds to inspect and decide what is worth hauling around with them as they make their dumpster rounds. They know what sells, and what they want.

My husband has happily assimilated this aspect of Spanish culture, although at my insistence has opted for the beside-the-dumpster search as I have forbidden full on diving.

We have three dumpsters across a side street from our apartment so my husband can view the new arrivals from our balcony when he sits out for his other adopted Spanish practice of smoking cigars (or in his case cigarillos, which are cigarette sized cigars). He has developed a taste for the Cuban variety, which are legal and readily available in Spain. And speaking of cigars – how did I ever miss that one of the unique aspects of cigars is that they are rolled not in paper, but a tobacco leaf? That seems so self-contained and efficient! But I digress from the garbage.

Here is the ultimate recycling – one big trash swap open at all times throughout all the cities. In Madrid, Thursday evenings is the night to be scrounging as this is when people put out their large unwanted items like furniture and wood.

It seems that any and every night in Valencia has the potential for large finds. My husband found an old wooden box that he re-fashioned into a bookshelf (it helps that he is a carpenter by trade), as well as a sturdy, large plastic fruit crate which he has strapped onto the back of his second hand bicycle (purchased not found) for carting groceries, and, well of course, dumpster finds.

The old adage, “One person’s trash, is another’s treasure” is ever true in Spain, and makes for very practical applications as well as great entertainment. Just keep in mind that unfortunately sometimes it is simply trash and should remain so as the experienced dumpster divers well know.