When communism ended and western products flooded into the vacuum left by socialist central planning, every-day goods which dominated life under communism were tossed in the trash or otherwise discarded.

It wasn't a hard choice; everyone had the same thing and so very much of it was poor, shoddy quality.

With the passage of time, however, discarded objects tend to come back into fashion. Joel Alas, writing for the Baltic Times, decided to search out for himself some old Soviet era kitsch in the second hand stores of the Baltics--especially in the small town of Viljandi which is considered "the second hand shopping capital of Estonia."

What he discovered was that not enough time had passed in Estonia for such clothes, household goods, and electronics to come back in fashion locally. But, he did find some cool items which he felt would be a hit in the West.

If you're heading off to the Baltics and want to pick up some cheap souvenirs, you might want to consider stopping by.

Filed under: History, Estonia, Red Corner