El Changuito

Tucked away in an old carpenter’s workshop in the heart of Born’s warren of side streets is one of the area’s most intensely glistening hidden gems. Shining brightly in the shadow of the Santa Maria Del Mar Cathedral is El Changuito - a charming portal into days gone by that makes Aladdin’s cave look like a squat.

It’s difficult to categorize El Changuito into a specific retail genre. So difficult in fact that we've decided to create a genre all of its own - "second hand chic". Imagine fusing a museum, an art gallery, an attic, a car boot sale, and a market stall together, then displaying the contents in a historical back street showroom that just oozes character. That bizarre concoction just about describes El Changuito’s glorious shop in Born.

When you enter through the understated exterior, you’ll notice that the weathered walls have been left exposed and untreated. Carpenters´ markings are still visible, etching a wonderful reminder of the buildings prior inhabitants onto the concrete texture. The way in which El Changuito has allowed the historical aspects of the building’s legacy to live on, is very similar to the way they treat the products that they sell. To put it simply - they breathe new life into old things.

The shop is almost like a recovery clinic for second hand items - somewhere where beautiful objects are plucked from obscurity, dusted down and given a new lease of life to keep providing enjoyment for a new generation of owners. The products are a random collection of just about anything. And despite their differing backgrounds, all these products unite to make a visually sublime (if often surreal) range of stock that somehow sits next to each other in perfect harmony. Sinks, lamps, board games, clocks, spectacles, paintings, wardrobes, gramophones, rocking horses, vases, and telephones can all be found nestling in far flung corners of the shop – items of which all were personally collected by El Changuito’s owners Aide and Sergi. The couple describes the contents of their delightful shop as "things that we like"... well my word do they have some style!

They have collated their magical stock range by scouring flee markets and auctions throughout Europe, and have even acquired some items while dining out in a restaurant (having informed the owner how much they liked one of his lampshades.) This is anything but catalogue stock, this is definitely not IKEA. It’s the personal selection process, and the fact that there is a story behind how each item came to arrive in their hands that gives El Changuito a magic that would be almost impossible to recreate.

This magic has been created by Sergi and Aide´s infectious passion and acute eye for a hidden gem. When a customer inquires about an item that is particularly close to the couples’ heart, the pair can be reluctant to sell until they are confident that they have found a buyer who will care for it appropriately and appreciate the item as much as they do. This personal touch and friendly demeanor has seen El Changuito build up a returning group of customers, many of who make the transition from customers to friends.

This is the reason that this small shop in the depths of Born’s backstreets is able to survive, unlike the increasing numbers of empty “Alquiler" (to let) shops that inhabit the stony quiet streets around them.

In fact, El Changuito’s first 12 months of trading has been so successful that they are beginning to expand and will shortly be moving to a larger location in the adjoining Gothic quarter. In addition to providing more much needed space for a larger selection of nik naks, the new 250 square metre location will allow El Changuito to branch out and offer a different service that is particularly close to one of the owner’s hearts. As a photographer, Sergi hopes to incorporate an exhibition area into the new showroom, where both he and other local photographers and artists can put on exhibitions to display their work. To accompany this physical expansion, El Changuito also hopes to grow via the internet, and are looking to launch an improved website facility in the near future.

The owners say they owe some of the good fortune they’ve experienced in their Born shop to 3 miniature statues of saints that watch over their shop. If you have the pleasure of visiting the current location in Born, keep your eyes peeled to see if you can spot these 3 tiny lucky charms living in glass jars in the cracks and crevasses of the shop’s walls, adding yet another delightful anecdote to El Changuito’s charming story.

Whether or not these 3 guardian angels also make the move to new location - as long as the current management pairing remain at the helm and continue to pour so much personality into the business, the new shop will prove to be just as magical and even more successful than the current one.