Don't try this at Walmart: Bartering name of the game for roaming general store

Try this at Walmart and things could go sideways fast, but a general store roaming around 17th Avenue S.W. is accepting a good joke as a form of payment for goods or services. Or a lively tune. Or even some finger puppets you might have on hand.

Artists Nikki Martens and Lane Shordee are behind this blast from the past, bartering as an exchange between two interested parties so they both walk away satisfied.

"It's areframingof that idea," Martens toldCBCNews.

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"We are used to using finance as this filter. It is easy tosay, I charge $180 an hour to give you advice. Believe me, I have these papers on my wall, which is legitimate, but how do we determine that?"

She said some things aren't as tangible, and value can be in the eye of the beholder.

"Maybe other people have the best advice in the world, and maybe that's what you need. How do we put a value on that? That is fascinating to us. It's easy with the dollar amount but it's trickier when we have to take time and have conversations."

The general store will be in a new spot all this week. But you will need to look for clues on social media for the Saturday location, Martens said.

"We really want people to come out and find us."

She said it's about value and exchange.

"We used the archetype of a general store, a trading post, which is meant to supply all your needs, to look at what do people want? What do people think is valuable? How do they go about making an exchange that feels valuable to them?"

The store's offerings are being looked at based on transactions recorded in a ledger the couple had to create for their needs, Shordee said.

"We can look back and see what kind of trades we are doing. That helps us change the store to suit the people's needs. If they want more material things, we will bring in more material things. If it's more cultural, more experiential, what kind of items are hot sellers."

They also take cash, if a song or a jokeis out of reach.

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With files fromElissa Carpenter and Justin Pennell