Tour of Webkinz World: The Curio Shop

By Sparky Fact

Introduction

One of the buildings that I wanted to write about for my report on Kinzville is the Curio Shop. That’s not just because it’s owned by my Uncle Arte (although to be honest that is a big part of it!)

I love the Curio Shop because Uncle Arte has so many rare and unusual items for sale. In fact he has so many that he has to keep most of them in his storage room. He can only display a small portion of his actual inventory in the shop – that’s why it’s changing all the time. Every time I go into the Curio Shop it seems like a different store.

The History of the Curio Shop

The Curio Shop began when my Uncle Arte, who used to be an archaeologist, discovered the Kinzville Mines with his friend, Doug. That was kind of a bad time for Uncle Arte because he and his friend had a fight over whether they should let the residents of Kinzville in on the secret of the mines or not. But it was a good thing for Kinzville because, even though he and Doug didn’t agree, Uncle Arte opened to the mines to the town anyway. When he first opened the mines Arte was worried that if there was a run on gems, there wouldn’t be enough to go around so that everyone could enjoy them. So he decided to limit visits to one per day so that there would always be enough gems for everybody. Uncle Arte decided to build a small shop at the entrance of the mines to monitor the ‘Kinz coming and going.

The thing is, once the residents started mining, Arte realized that they were often looking for somewhere to trade in their gems for KinzCash. Some of the ‘Kinz used to go to Fluffington St. Bernard, but Uncle Arte could see that Fluffington wasn’t always offering a fair price for the gems and he didn’t want ‘Kinz being taken advantage of.  Uncle Arte wasn’t a rich guy or anything, so he decided that to raise money he would sell some of the stuff he had collected over the years. He had lots of rare items that people were interested in. He also made a deal with the W Shop to buy some of their items when they were overstocked so he could sell them at a discount in the shop too. Even though he just started the shop to be able to buy gems, he soon found he had a bustling business and he was able to purchase lots more stock. So now, whenever you go into Uncle Arte’s shop there’s something new and interesting to buy.

About the Curio Shop

The Curio Shop is located in the shopping area of Kinzville right next to the Wish Factory and the W Shop. It’s built in an old warehouse and there are exposed brick walls and a beautiful old marble floor. When you walk in the first thing you see is all these epic items on display. Uncle Arte has a couple of tables set up to display some of his smaller pieces. He sits at a counter right in the middle, and just to the right of that are the doors leading out to the mines, just behind those gold curtains.

The Curio Shop is open every day – Uncle Arte never stops working. He loves talking to customers about some of his rare items. He also has a tip jar sitting on the counter so his customers can let him know how much they appreciate his help. The residents of Kinzville really seem to like Uncle Arte – he makes a lot of money on tips, which also helps him buy more cool stuff to offer his clients.

Conclusion

I love the Curio Shop. There is always something new to see and every day I get an opportunity to explore the mines and take my chances at finding another awesome gem. I am so glad that my Uncle opened such a neat shop in Kinzville and I hope that you’ll visit the Curio Shop soon.