On Saturday, I was out running errands and decided to drop by the neighborhood Dollar Tree to pick up a cheap thermal mug for my wife to take in her car to drink coffee on the go. I’d visited stores like this off and on throughout my life, usually when wandering aimlessly at the mall waiting for someone else to get done with shopping. For some reason, I had never noticed the selection of products they had or even thought of comparing them to products I might find at another store.
To me, the Dollar Store was a place for cheap knick-knacks, toys, party supplies, and other trinkets you might have found at an old-school “five and dime” store (or a Nobbies). I was a bit shocked when I saw they had such practical things as batteries. I’d just paid $5 for two 9-volt batteries at the hardware store. Here they were for $1. When I exercise, I use a pair of cheap earbuds to listen to music on my iPod. They usually cost $12 at Walmart. At the Dollar Tree they were, you know, a dollar. There was a while aisle just for dishes and glassware. They had an assortment of martini glasses, which I had paid $2.50 a piece for back when I threw a martini party at our house. Here they were for $1. I felt embarrassed at how ignorant I was of the variety of practical stuff they had on sale here and was kicking myself for not stopping by sooner when I needed something like a dustpan, a wastebasket, incandescent light bulbs, gift bags or greeting cards. Yes, greeting cards. If you know me, I like to draw personal comics inside birthday/anniversary/whatever cards Vivian and I give to people, so they frilly tissue paper and glittery, foil-stamped garbage on the front means almost nothing to me. I actually look for the cheaper cards because they’re more likely to have plain, white interiors suitable for drawing comics.
I shouldn’t leave out stores like the Dollar General from this post, either. Despite the name, most of their goods cost more than a dollar, but I was shocked to find some of their name-brand goods actually cost less than their counterparts at Aldi — no easy feat to be sure. Of course, I always try to stay price-conscious enough to know that a $1 can of beans would actually cost 49 cents elsewhere, but if you haven’t visited your local Dollar Store in a while, you may want to drop in. You may be surprised at what you find.
Photo credit: Fan of Retail