Every big city around the world has a place like this, a flea market so big it covers many squares…read moreand sells from cheap clothing to "used" cars parts. That place in Santiago is El Persa Bio-Bio, where the best things they offer are used video games, casual style clothing (some stores are really good, selling real leather jackets for a quarter the price in uptown), astonishingly cheap furniture of high quality (check the "Mall del Mueble" page) and even some "unusual" stuff like cell-phones and computers (dont you even dare to ask from where). Note that the whole place has a furtive, National-Geographic-in-India, shadowy appearance in it, even though many of the stores are from honest salesman so if you are going there better go with a bulky friend and most important of all, a native (and no so posh) speaker of chilean spanish; that or youll get inmediatly marked by the folks there as a "gringo" tourist and Oy Vey for you. Still, the cheapest place in town

If I were to ever run a bookstore, I hope that it has the diversity that Antarctica has. While I…read moreentered the shop without a real game plane and virtually zero knowledge of Spanish or how to use Chilean Pesos, the bookseller was very patient with me. I purchased a notebook, and felt a little bewildered as there was no price listed on it (and I did not know how to ask in Spanish). It wasn't until later that I learned that I paid a very reasonable, comparable price, so I wanted to make sure that they receive a fair review. The selection of books is primarily in Spanish, but English-speaking ex-pats and tourist rejoice, there is a humble English language section. The stationery products are peppered throughout the foyer of the shop and the counter is overrun by impulse items. I hope to spend more time there on my next visit.