Here's a great article from BBC Mundo with some fascinating little places that have survived decades and are still pretty much they way they always were.
Cafes, shoe and umbrella shops, for example. It's true that there seems to be a ferretería on almost every street corner much to my delight and in Olivos there's even a button shop (botonera) dedicated to every type of button imaginable. It was said by Napoleon that Britain is a nation of shopkeepers, but sadly places like this are now far and few, unlike here in Buenos Aires.
