History Main / TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday

* ''Series/TheColbertReport'': Invoked by Stephen in [[https://www.cc.com/video/i8ohf4/the-colbert-report-put-the-cursed-monkey-paw-down this segment]].Stephen concludes that things keep going wrong in the cleanup of the Mexican Gulf oil spill because someone keeps making wishes with a cursed monkey paw bought in such a shop.

* ''Series/TheColbertReport'': Invoked by Stephen in [[http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/313508/june-24-2010/put-the-cursed-monkey-paw-down this segment.]] Stephen concludes that things keep going wrong in the cleanup of the Mexican Gulf oil spill because someone keeps making wishes with a cursed monkey paw bought in such a shop.

* ''Fanfic/SunsetsIsekai''The Isekai (an interdimensional bar) appears to those who really need a good drink (literally or not) and a good ear to listen to their problems. Those who possess one of the Isekai’s business cards, or a key for a certain few individuals, can pay the bar a visit at their leisure. Reference has also been made to the Isekai occasionally opening in a universe as if it were a normal bar for a time.

** ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'': Twoflower reveals that the ill-tempered, sentient piece of luggage he's been travelling with came from one of these ''tavernes vagrantes'', or "mysterious wandering shops" (he asked for "traveling luggage" and got exactly that). Several theories are {{Discussed|Trope}} as to their origin, such as it being a way to avoid property taxes, or (in a ShoutOut Harlan Ellison's "Shoppe Keeper") that they are alien merchants escaping the heat death of their universe through dimension traveling technology. Later on they stumble into such a shop, and the real reason is revealed: a sorcerer who had an unpleasant retail experience cursed the shop and its owner to wander in and out of existence, never able to stay in the same place for long.

* Despite its standing as a science fiction anime, in ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' one episode involved one of these. However, said shop was a ''memory'' shop. It's main purpose in the story was to [[spoiler: give some of the Major's backstory and foreshadow later events.]]

You know the place. It wasn't there yesterday. But right now, there's a shop there that looks like it came out of Creator/CharlesDickens -- or maybe Creator/HPLovecraft. If you go inside, you'll find a quirky old shopkeeper who has any number of potentially magical -- and potentially inconvenient -- artifacts available for sale. Cheap. Today only. ''Just'' what you were looking for -- although you may not have known you were looking for it when you came in. In fact, these items may ''look'' just like any other shop merchandise, but [[ParanormalMundaneItem they frequently have some weird supernatural properties]].

You know the place. It wasn't there yesterday. But right now, there's a shop there that looks like it came out of Creator/CharlesDickens--or maybe Creator/HPLovecraft. If you go inside, you'll find a quirky old shopkeeper who has any number of potentially magical -- and potentially inconvenient -- artifacts available for sale. Cheap. Today only. ''Just'' what you were looking for -- although you may not have known you were looking for it when you came in. In fact, these items may ''look'' just like any other shop merchandise, but [[ParanormalMundaneItem they frequently have some weird supernatural properties]].

* A more comedic instance in ''Anime/KiraKiraPrecureALaMode'': the Kira Kira Patisserie keeps changing location because the management can't seem to pick a set location. At one point they end up at a farm surrounded by cows, facing a cliff, and in the middle of a highway.

* A one-man version occurs in ''Film/{{Wendigo}}''. A mysterious Native American behind the counter of the drugstore tells Miles the legend of the {{wendigo}} and gives him a wooden carving of the monster. When Kim looks around for him, he has vanished. Kim asks the shopkeeper about it, she says that she is the only one who works and that Kim and Miles are the only customers she's had all day.

* In the ''Series/Goosebumps1995'' episode "[[Recap/Goosebumps1995S2E23TheBlobThatAteEveryone The Blob that Ate Everyone]]", Mrs. Carter discovers Zackie and Alex rummaging through her ruined shop and gladly gives Zackie the magic typewriter so long as he writes a truly terrifying story on it. As Zackie and Alex leave, they don't look back, so they don't see that Mrs. Carter vanishes behind them.

!Examples:

* Throughout the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series, there's a place called the Velvet Room. The long-nosed man who runs it, Igor, can fuse Personae together for you. Only the main character can even see its door, and it appears in the strangest places, such as [[VideoGame/{{Persona 3}} under the stairs of a karaoke bar]], [[VideoGame/{{Persona 4}} next to a book small town bookstore]], or [[VideoGame/{{Persona 5}} down a side street in a shopping district]].

** ''Literature/JeremyThatcherDragonHatcher'': The title character buys a dragon's egg from the magic shop, which he then finds out he has to hatch. (Actually, the egg chose him. Dragons apparently have the power to attract their own prenatal egg-sitters.)
** ''Literature/JenniferMurdleysToad'': A girl enters the shop and ends up buying a pet toad. The shop owner didn't warn her that said toad could talk, and was not only a smartass, but also had a bounty on its head -- or more accurately, ''in'' its head.
** In ''Literature/JulietDoveQueenOfLove'', an extremely shy girl named Juliet goes into the store, but instead of the old man we have come to expect, a strange woman gives her a necklace -- which can't be removed. It's the amulet once owned by Helen of Troy, and has the same effect on all the boys in Juliet's class...
** "Literature/TheMetamorphosisOfJustinJones": In this ShortStory, a young man who expresses interest in the metamorphosis stage trick (where the magician switches places with his assistant) is given a bag and an instruction manual. The instructions say to sleep in the bag every night over a certain period, and when he complies, he starts to grow wings. This story is actually one of the few times where what the character wants from the shop more or less matches up with what the character needs, because he happens to live with an extremely abusive uncle...

* In ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9007910/1/Altered-Histories Altered Histories]]'' Harry buys some rather expensive pamphlets from a store called Meryl's Misunderstood Magical Minutia which is replaced by an empty, dilapidated building the moment after he leaves.
* [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/curios-worm.718030 "Curios"]] Taylor Hebert works for the literal devil in one of these shops and improved buisness by using full disclosure regarding both the benefit and curse(s) and helping people find exact what they want.
* In ''Fanfic/DiariesOfAMadman'', Navarone and Taya are guided to one of these in their travels. Unlike many cases, the store owner explicitly points out the nature of the shop and that the pair will never see it again - and provides them with a book which sucks the erstwhile readers into [[Franchise/TheElderScrolls Apocrypha]], along with one or two other useful items. It's implied that the nature of the shop is intended specifically to keep Discord from finding it, but [[GambitPileup this may not be true.]]

* ''[[Fanfic/TheNonBronyverse The Non-Bronyverse]]'' has less of a shop there, and more of a single unicorn proprietor who sells TD the staff Reginald for a song.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11237394/7/One-Thread-Pulled One Thread Pulled]]'' Harry buys his wand at a store which vanishes immediately after he and his family exit it.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic ''FanFic/RottenLuck'', when Jonathan eventually decides to head back to the antique store where he bought his blue statuette, he finds only a vacant lot where the shop's building used to stand.

** ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'':
*** Twoflower reveals that the ill-tempered, sentient piece of luggage he's been travelling with came from one of these ''tavernes vagrantes'', or "mysterious wandering shops" (he asked for "traveling luggage" and got ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin). %%Interesting Times shows these luggage are very common.
*** The characters stumble into a shop whose owner was cursed by a sorcerer [[note]]Well, it [[{{Retcon}} probably doesn't mean it]][[/note]] who had an unpleasant retail experience. The cursed shop must wander around and in and out of existence, never able to stay in the same place for long. It becomes a very convenient way for the group to get back to Ankh-Morpork in a hurry, as the shop is able to just materialize on an empty wall there.
*** The characters {{Discuss|edTrope}} several alternate theories about the phenomenon. For example, one explanation is that a race of highly advanced alien merchants learned to escape the heat death of their universe through dimension traveling technology. [[spoiler:This is a callout to Harlan Ellison's "Shoppe Keeper", referenced further down.]][[note]]These theories have, however, one thing in common: They are all wrong.[[/note]]
** ''Literature/SoulMusic'': A mysterious little music shop that was always there (but wasn't always there ''yesterday'') is actually ''still there'' the next day. When two of the characters comment on this (and one insists the shop was on the other side of the street last time), after they leave, the strange old woman who runs the shop says, "I'll forget my own head next," and pulls a lever... at which point the shop moves across the street. The little old woman's eyes glow green as she does so.

* It also showed up in a Christmas Episode of ''Series/PunkyBrewster''.

* The club where all the beautiful people are from ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''.

* Michael Scot used this ruse in the first episode of ''Series/ShoeboxZoo'', to the bemusement of nearby builders.

* The Little Shop showed up -- played lightly for laughs -- in ''Series/TalesFromTheDarkside'''s teleplay of Creator/HarlanEllison's short story "Djinn, No Chaser".

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->'''Marge:''' Eugh! Homer, where did you get that ugly thing?\\
'''Homer:''' From that little shop right over there-- ''[Points to an empty lot, where sand devils whirl. He gasps in disbelief, then corrects himself.]'' Oh, no, wait, it was right over there.\\
'''Shop Vendor:''' ''[waving]'' You'll be sorrrrrrry!
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E7TreehouseOfHorrorII Treehouse of Horror II]]: The Monkey's Paw"
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You know the place. It wasn't there yesterday. But right now, there's a shop there that looks like it came out of Creator/CharlesDickens--or maybe Creator/HPLovecraft. If you go inside, you'll find a quirky old shopkeeper who has any number of potentially magical - and potentially inconvenient - artifacts available for sale. Cheap. Today only. ''Just'' what you were looking for - although you may not have known you were looking for it when you came in. In fact, these items may ''look'' just like any other shop merchandise, but [[ParanormalMundaneItem they frequently have some weird supernatural properties.]]

* In ''Manga/{{ARIA}}'', Akari winds up in a cafe that is usually only open to cats. Sure enough, when she walks out it appears to have been long abandoned.
* Played with in ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' with the Twin Bells shop. The toy shop itself and its origin is not supernatural (although it did appear almost overnight), but the plushes it sells mysteriously disappear from the house of whoever bought them and reappear at Twin Bells. This raises suspicions on the owner committing theft, but the poor woman actually has no idea what is going on. Naturally, the culprit is [[MonsterOfTheWeek a Clow card]], and once it's dealt with the shop can operate normally, subverting the trope. It even makes a couple more appearances afterwards, showing that it's thriving.

* The villain ([[ForTheEvulz Ethan Rayne]]) in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E6Halloween "Halloween"]] opens a costume shop that sells items bewitched to make their wearers [[BecomingTheCostume actually become the things they dressed up as]].

* BusinessAsUnusual: A protagonist inherits or starts a strange and unusual business.