Second hand shops in Canada and CIS
In the former Soviet Union, second-hand shops are often treated with a little bit of disdain. In Canada, it is quite the opposite.
A second-hand shop, or the familiar, good old Second Hand. In the average post-Soviet inhabitant, these words evoke a variety of associations — from admiration to approval, from acceptance of the phenomenon as a fact to indifference, from disgust to a contemptuous "fi".
What emotion do the same words evoke in Canadians? Surprisingly, it is pride and satisfaction. Somewhere it's even joy that second-hand shops exist at all. Why? It's simple. The main reason is that the nature of the phenomenon is different here in Canada and across the ocean.
CIS countries
What "there", that is, in some of the former Soviet republics? Second hand shops emerged at a time when the purchasing power of the population had significantly decreased and living was a necessity. And no matter how much the national pride resists, one will not be satisfied with just pride. That is, you cannot put it on yourself.
Where do all these mountains of second-hand goods that cross borders by the ton and are instantly distributed to retail outlets come from? In most cases, these are free donations from the people in the countries from which they come. In shops of the former Soviet Union these things sometimes have a very impressive price tag. And they don't smell good. And they don't look right. And in general... It's a very profitable business.
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