However, the days when second-hand book shops were the only place to find a book you could not get in a high street store are long gone.

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Crespo might need a trawl around the Capital's second-hand record shops for his final acquisition - a copy of the Lonnie Donegan classic, My Old Man's A Dustman.

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Knowing that the demand for used goods could increase in our slow-growth economy, Sageworks analyzed how this type of retailer (second-hand stores, thrift shops, used good stores, etc.) fares differently from its retailing peers.

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After renting skates from the Skateway kiosks (or buying second-hand ones cheaply from Ottawa sports shops), take advantage of the free skating lessons offered on the canal during Winterlude weekends.

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Also important were shops with character - selling antiques, mementoes, second hand books, as well as concerns over increasing numbers of pound shops and charity shops.

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It offers shops from Valentino to second-hand stores housed within tightly packed brownstones, and just a few streets over, tree-lined Commonwealth Avenue is a strolling boulevard that leads to Boston Public Gardens, home of the famous Swan Boats.

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