Pandoras Music Box

I’m a sucker for a weird shop with odd, mismatched stock that makes you think «How the hell does this place stay in business?», and Pandora’s Music Box is exactly such a place.
As the name suggests, it sells music-​related products, but in reality it’s a bit of a junk shop that happens to have some music equipment in it. I suspect that many years ago it may well have been a dedicated music shop, and it has the air of having seen better days, for sure. Other items on offer these days are wheelchairs and walkers for elderly people. I told you it was odd. Perhaps, rather like Take That, this shop has simply grown up with it’s audience. Who knows.
Anyway, I always pop in when I passing as there is usually something in the window — an old radio, a battered effects pedal — that catches my eye. I do love to have a rummage around in there and I’m holding out hope that one day, one fine and beautiful day, I will find a left-​handed 1950s Gretsch guitar with original US pickups a £20 price tag on it. You never know your luck!

Out of the handful of second hand shops left in Stirchley, Pandora’s Music Box is by far the one that I find the most fascinating and charming. Attempting to buy a guitar for seventy pounds in most shops won’t get you very far. However, you’ll find one for seventy pounds in Pandora’s Music Box. Same as if you’ve only got fifty pounds, or forty, or maybe even thirty… yeah you get my point, it’s dirt cheap. What they have most of is guitars, but you’ll find the odd violin, keyboard or brass instrument as well as assorted music paraphenalia. It’s first and foremost a music shop but there’s plenty of other second hand goods that may interest you. Last time I went, there was a macabre baby doll in the window, a few old radios and tape players, as well as the largest selection of wheelchairs and walking aids I’ve seen outside of a hospital. This strange little shop is worth a look even if you don’t intend to buy a single thing, though you might well change your mind on that when you get there. Go visit it before it gets bulldozed to make way for a superstore that’s exactly like all the others you’ve been in.