This chapter examines the emergence of parallel retail channels and how they challenge traditional notions of retailing. The reasons consumers shop in second-hand outlets offer an important source of cultural lessons for retail marketing overall. They show how socially integrated persons adopt a form of acquisition on the periphery of mass retailing, a system whose principles are fundamentally challenged. They demonstrate that consumers act as interpretive agents (Arnould and Thompson 2005 ) who deliberately choose to patronize alternative channels to resist uniformity, predictability and ephemerality of mass production, waste and ecological consequences of consumption and lack of social contact in conventional retailing. They bring to light rationales for a new culture of consumption that stands on the margins of the conventional system and on the cast-offs of the primary market. As a result, one should not be surprised, if mindful, to observe that fl ea markets, garage sales, second-hand shops, antique dealers, auctions and Web sites are becoming legion, and the proliferation of such venues testifi es to a growing phenomenon in most Western, affl uent societies. Far from an archaism, rooted in traditional exchange practices such as bartering or haggling (Belk et al . 1988 ), parallel retailing systems refl ect consumer expectations. They oppose on the one side predictable, organized, standardized offerings and atmospheres (Figure 26.1 ), and on the other, unexpected, ludic and exhilarating settings (Figure 26.2 ).