ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —

At this time of year, some shoppers are looking for certain gifts and the best deals.

For others, where they shop can be just as important — a place with interesting people working in the stores, customers with stories to tell, and lots of history.

Old Town is such a place.

At the Oaxaca Zapotec House, Denali Waisamen sells rugs that have been made by four generations of a family of weavers. And for Waisamen, the people who come to the store have the kind of stories you can't make up.

"He travels in his van when his wife lets him, so he gets away from his kids and his wife. She lets him go for about a month out of the year to go wherever he wants to go, and he has his whole van decked out in our rugs," Waisamen said.

Page One Books has been in Old Town since 1941,

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