December 10, 2025
Molly McVety/PhillyVoice
Chain Mail Unclaimed, located at Booth No. 119 in the City Hall Courtyard near the carousel, sells unopened packages that were lost, returned or abandoned.
One of the new vendors at this year's Christmas Village in Philadelphia has become an instant sensation, drawing hundreds of customers each day who clamor to purchase its coveted product before inventory sells out. So what are they swarming the booth to buy? Well, no one even knows exactly.
Emma Zielinski of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, is the owner of Chain Mail Unclaimed, a company that sells unopened packages that were lost, returned or abandoned. In her first two weeks operating her stand, she has sold over 3,000 packages, and the only promise she can make is that it will be a surprise.
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Booth No. 119, located in the City Hall Courtyard near the carousel, welcomes customers and curious bystanders with bins, boxes and shelves of differently sized packages, each priced between $10-$40 depending on their weight.
Zielinski has previously acquired these unknown packages through government auctions and now uses a broker who obtains them from suppliers and warehouses — at "the last stop before the landfill."
On a brisk Monday afternoon, Zielinski was swamped with shoppers excitedly shaking boxes and placing bets on what could possibly be inside. Some open candy dishes, watch bands and portable chargers on the spot, while others opt to save the unboxing for their upcoming Secret Santa or White Elephant gift exchange.
The strategy of selling a mystery has clearly paid off. Zielinski and her husband have previously been vendors at Philly's 2nd Street Festival and Punk Rock Flea Market as well as some other pop-up events around New Jersey, but they weren't prepared for how popular the concept would be at the Christmas Village. Since opening, Zielinski said the inventory she had allotted for her first two weeks was sold in just the first two days. She said she's selling around 500 packages per day.
Chain Mail Unclaimed owner Emma Zielinski says she's selling around 500 packages per day at her booth in the Christmas Village.
Provided Image/Emma Zielinski
"This was not anything I had planned for," she said. "We've worked on this for a long time, but this is our first long-term gig. ... It's been really unhinged. That's why we're playing catch up."
Chain Mail Unclaimed's slogan is straight from a kindergarten classroom wall: "You get what you get, and you don't get upset." The owner said she's seen people open everything from expensive headphones to T-shirts with NSFW designs.
"I don't pick any packages, I don't open anything and I'm almost always wrong when I guess," she said.
Most customers said they were either intrigued by the potentially valuable packages or drawn in by the social media presence of the business, which promotes the experience as a "modern day treasure hunt."
Nicole Smith, a 43-year-old from State College, travelled to the Christmas Village with some friends and said she had seen Chain Mail Unclaimed on TikTok. She purchased one medium and one small package for a White Elephant exchange, saying she hoped for "something hilarious."
Co-workers Zachary Atkins, 28 from Virginia, and Robert Wilson, 53 from Detroit, were in the Philly area for a work trip and took the afternoon off to explore the market. They had their interests piqued by the packed crowd. In their two packages, they opened up a green wig, which elicited a "Go Birds" chant from the crowd, and a giant flag decorated for Juneteenth.
After watching the unboxing of a shelving unit and matching baseball hats that read "I'm Married," everyone's excitement proved to be too contagious and I purchased a Tier 3 package for $20. It was a slightly round and plushy package that Zielinski and I agreed felt like a small rotisserie chicken.
To my horror, I was met with a set of eyes, claws, teeth and rainbow hair attached to what can only be described as half lion and half Demogorgon from "Stranger Things." The creature had a tag naming him "Yarnaby," and Zielinski called him "maybe one of the creepiest things" she'd ever seen. He is currently comfortably displayed on a spare table in the PhillyVoice office.
This creature named 'Yarnaby' was the prize of a Tier 3 package for $20.
Zielinski, 37, first got the idea to start Chain Mail Unclaimed after watching videos on social media of a similar business set up in a farmer's market in Paris around two years ago.
"I could not stop thinking about it," she said. "As a customer, I'd never be able to say no to that. It's very low risk and high reward."
She recalled a time two years ago waking up her husband, Charlie, in the middle of the night while "very pregnant," with the idea to collaborate on her new business venture. Zielinski, who also owns a permanent jewelry stand called Off the Chain Studios, began purchasing packages in bulk from government auctions and selling them at various street fairs and flea markets around the region.
Just to keep up with the demand, Zielinski said she wakes up at 6 a.m. nearly every day to pick up, process and measure new shipments of packages. On top of that, she and her husband are parents to two children, who are 3 and 1.
"If I'm not changing a diaper, I'm measuring a package," Zielinski said. "I'm looking forward to having more inventory and getting everything up and running and smoother. We will be back better than ever, I assure you."
