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Harwin has many strip malls with discount shops and wholesale warehouses.

Allison Wollam said that the street has a "bargain mile" image among Houstonians (Houston citizens).The Houston Press stated that Harwin was "Houston's shadiest and quirkiest shopping hot spot."

What do these superlatives refer to? could you paraphrase the meaning of them in simple English, please? My last concern has to do with the expression bargain mile . what does it mean? Thank you in advance.

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    A "bargain mile" is most likely a street or a stretch of a street where you can buy goods at low prices.
    – CowperKettle
    Commented Oct 3, 2015 at 11:13
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    Paraphrase them? "Shadiest" = "most shady" (but not literally most strewn by trees offering shade), "quirkiest" = "most quirky". Look those up.
    – Victor Bazarov
    Commented Oct 3, 2015 at 11:20

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"[insert word here] mile" in a context like this refers to a stretch of road that may have some stand-out characteristic. Like a stretch of road with a high density of car dealerships may be referred to as a "motor mile". So a "bargain mile" is a stretch of road known for bargains -- shops that offer unusually good deals.

I went and looked up the source of the quote and from the full context I think what they're trying to suggest is that it's an area known for bargains of dubious authenticity or quality (shady), with an usually wide variety of items for sale (quirky).

For example, the article mentions a "$175 wedding dress". Since wedding dresses are more typically in the $800 - $3000 range, one that's going for $175 is "shady" -- it might be a fake brandname ripoff from some sweatshop in China, or maybe it was just stolen off of the back of a truck somewhere. (Shady could also mean that the area is dangerous and known for criminal activity but after reading the article I think it's clear they mean the merchandise is shady.)

Then the article mentions a 500 pound brass statue of Buddah. That's sufficiently unusual to qualify for "quirky".

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The noun 'mile' refers to a large area

mile: a large area

If you go by dictionaries, shadiest and quirkiest mean somewhat unusual/strange. Maybe, the deals there are not transparent.

But then that's what is expected at 'bargain' stores/streets. You don't know the actual price and you start bargaining.

In this original post, you'd find that this place is great for bargaining but all you need is a trick to bargain to get the best goods.

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  • -By saying strange and Unsuall , does it convey that they may deceive people? I mean shadiest and quickest are disapproval adjectives ?
    – user24942
    Commented Oct 3, 2015 at 11:33
  • Yes..but not for deceiving people particularly! I think it's just that they have shady merchandise or goods. The original article reads: "When speaking of this type of shady merchandise..."
    – Maulik V
    Commented Oct 3, 2015 at 11:44
  • "Shady" in this context usually means "of uncertain legality."
    – Epicedion
    Commented Jun 29, 2016 at 19:07

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