"They became a junk shop, " says Howard Davidowitz, a retail consultant.

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Gould's story is also framed by another narrator, Sid Hammet, a present-day faker of antique furniture who discovers Gould's book of fish paintings in a junk shop.

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The new console looks like it has been constructed from items out of a junk shop, including an old typewriter, a telephone, pressure gauges and a Morse code machine.

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Canyon Partners LLC, a money manager founded by bond experts from the former "junk"-bond shop Drexel Burnham Lambert, and CQS, a London hedge-fund firm founded by U.K. millionaire Michael Hintze, recently launched new investment funds to take advantage of bargains in distressed mortgage debt.

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Atelier Mecanic (Str Covaci 12, Tel 0726-767-611) is more laid-back than most, with an artsy crowd that comes for the unique junk-shop decor as well as great coffee, single malt scotches and a mellow DJ most evenings.

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