The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin • Hacker News Board

Re: The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin

#131

Post by vkou » Wed, May 01, 2019, 6:36 PM UTC

blowski wrote: post #82

spectramax wrote: post #79

Hyper-specialization is everywhere if you ever step into any Asian country. Indians even have last names based on their hyper-specialized occupation. I was in Thailand and I saw a tiny shop whose only job was to take old torn notes and exchange it for a new one by charging a small flat fee. I had an Indian friend that told me that specializations in old cities was also geographically organized. One part of street wou…

> I had an Indian friend that told me that specializations in old cities was also geographically organized. One part of street would only sell pressure cookers while another side would sell watering cans. That’s how London used to be, which is why the area around St Paul’s has roads like “Leather Lane”, “Milk Street”, and “Poultry”.

Parts of Manhattan are still that way. There's a potted plant street, a fabric street...

Re: The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin

#132

Post by pnutjam » Wed, May 01, 2019, 6:38 PM UTC

microtherion wrote: post #80

1337biz wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine the margins for balloon shops incredibly good.

They keep most of their inventory uninflated so storage requirements are not that big and the designs keep a long time, and for non-specialists, it's generally not worth keeping bottled Helium around, so it's a pretty decent business I suppose.

I buy my inflated balloons at the "dollar store", which is a good deal since they are 3.99 or more at the grocery store.

Re: The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin

#133

Post by pnutjam » Wed, May 01, 2019, 6:41 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #109

systemtest wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a European toilet (one that is not filled to the brim with water) and I clean it by putting bleach in the bowl and leaving it overnight. I then put the toilet brush inside the drain pipe submerging it in the water/bleach mixture. By doing this I can use a single brush for years with it being brand new. Also, when you flush and wipe the skidmarks from the bowl, use the flowing water to immediately clean the bru…

> I clean it by putting bleach in the bowl But if your neighbors flush vinegar down the toilet, it will react into chlorine in the sewer.

I thought it was ammonia and bleach that should never be mixed.

Re: The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin

#134

Post by simonbyrne » Wed, May 01, 2019, 6:43 PM UTC

gjm11 wrote: post #24

In Cambridge (UK), on an out-of-the-way side street, for many years there was a shop called "Roll On Blank Tape". I never understood how they could possibly do enough business to stay _in_ business, and always suspected that if you asked in just the right way they might sell you some ... not-blank tapes. Boringly, the available evidence suggests that actually it's just that the person who ran the shop was really inte…

I used to live around the corner: I always wondered about that.

I do miss Norfolk Street Bakery though (which I hope is still going).

Re: The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin

#135

Post by simonbyrne » Wed, May 01, 2019, 6:50 PM UTC

simonbyrne wrote: post #134

gjm11 wrote: post #24

In Cambridge (UK), on an out-of-the-way side street, for many years there was a shop called "Roll On Blank Tape". I never understood how they could possibly do enough business to stay _in_ business, and always suspected that if you asked in just the right way they might sell you some ... not-blank tapes. Boringly, the available evidence suggests that actually it's just that the person who ran the shop was really inte…

I used to live around the corner: I always wondered about that. I do miss Norfolk Street Bakery though (which I hope is still going).

Also, reminded me of the old CB1 cafe, which labelled itself "UK's oldest internet cafe", which amusingly hadn't updated their website since 2005: http://www.cb1.com/

Re: The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin

#136

Post by novok » Wed, May 01, 2019, 6:54 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #109

systemtest wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a European toilet (one that is not filled to the brim with water) and I clean it by putting bleach in the bowl and leaving it overnight. I then put the toilet brush inside the drain pipe submerging it in the water/bleach mixture. By doing this I can use a single brush for years with it being brand new. Also, when you flush and wipe the skidmarks from the bowl, use the flowing water to immediately clean the bru…

> I clean it by putting bleach in the bowl But if your neighbors flush vinegar down the toilet, it will react into chlorine in the sewer.

Isn't bleach used in a lot of laundry cleaning already, so it's a bit inevitable that bleach & vinegar would end up in the sewer system?

Re: The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin

#137

Post by fredophile » Wed, May 01, 2019, 7:31 PM UTC

spectramax wrote: post #99

fredophile wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found Kowloon to be like this when I was visiting Hong Kong a few years ago. One that stands out in my mind was turning a corner and being on a street that seemed to sell nothing but pet turtles and fish.

Wow. Did you happen to take pictures? If you do, please share as any photographic insight into Kowloon walled city is highly sought after!

Kowloon and Kowloon walled city are not the same thing. Kowloon walled city was long gone when I made that trip.

Re: The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin

#138

Post by tonyedgecombe » Wed, May 01, 2019, 8:18 PM UTC

gbear605 wrote: post #101

teddyh wrote: post #27

I would assume that the decline of specialist shops is strongly correlated with rising rents for storefront properties. But with online shopping on the rise, maybe landlords (outside shopping malls and after some years to pass through the stages of grief) can accept that there just isn’t that much money in rents for storefronts anymore, and that specialist shops thereby can continue to exist. Of course, the risk is t…

I don’t know about in Germany, but the huge malls are going the way of the dodo in the US.

I read in the economist the US has nine times the square footage of shopping malls compared to the UK.

Re: The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin

#139

Post by chrisdhoover » Wed, May 01, 2019, 8:18 PM UTC

weinzierl wrote: post #10

Several hyper-specialist shops I know in Munich: - balloon shops seem to do really well because we have several here and every major city seems to have one - foam shop for when you need to fix your upholstery - venetian blind store which only sells the vertical kind - Ketten Wild was a chain shop that only sold chains but chains in all forms and sizes - la porcelaine blanche's slogan is "only china, only white" and t…

I’ve been to the Ampelmann shop and have a shirt! Yay me

Re: The hyper-specialist shops of Berlin

#140

Post by madcaptenor » Wed, May 01, 2019, 8:29 PM UTC

mattkrause wrote: post #53

SolaceQuantum wrote: post #32

I also find hyper-specialist shops in america wherever there is still cheap land enough for it. When I used to live in Buffalo, there were small shops- one specifically for new agey "gypsy" clothing, one for bath soap made in house, one for herbs for witchcraft, one that specialized in stones. I really enjoyed those places and miss them now how I live in NYC (although NYC has its own quirks- big gay ice cream is grea…

New York City has tons of these too; they’re just generally not well-advertised since they many of them cater to a specific market. There are a few button stores in New York, mostly in the Garment District, but also on the upper east side. There are stores selling all kinds of obscure art supplies, kitchen equipment, and lab gear too. To be fair, I’m not sure exactly where you’d buy a currywurst cushion, but there’s…

There used to be a bone store in Berkeley, called The Bone Room. They're online-only now, though, after the death of their founder and presumably also rising rents. (https://www.boneroom.com/about--contact.html)