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

FORBES: The logistics of a dinner plate

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.

ECONOMIST: New fiction from Australia

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.

BBC: New Doctor Who Matt Smith hopes series will 'thrill'

The house was surprisingly neat, in its junk-shop way.

NEWYORKER: The Swan

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.

BBC: Bucharest��s new Old City

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.

WSJ: Toxic? Says Who? Taste