Pop Shop

I guess the name doesn’t really matter – you’ll barely see it, anyway – but this is the thrift store wedged between Bargain Center (also fantastic) and Satsuma on Dauphine in the Bywater. In my experience they’re open when BC is open. Although my niece calls them both the «dirty stores» (she was not raised thrifting) these are two of the best gems in the city, although pound for pound I have to say my real treasures – from a Mardi Gras Queen’s Court diorama made with Barbies (and knockoffs) to a fantastic chifforobe painted with monkeys – have come from the Pop Shop. When I first started to go in the salesman, Pierre, couldn’t have been more welcoming – I was new to the city as well and I think on my second visit he basically invited me to join his Mardi Gras Krewe, Krewe du Poux. A couple visits later and he gifted me with one of his artworks, which hangs in my living room. His mom apparently also works there – perhaps she owns it.
It’s been more than a year since I saw him in there, though, and since the last time I saw him it was 9am and he was three sheets to the wind, I hope the worst hasn’t happened. I’m afraid to ask. But the shop never fails to yield an unexpected gem and yes, it’s dusty, but for me that’s a big part of the experience of uncovering a hidden treasure, so I just don’t bring my niece with me anymore. Her loss.