Dollar Stores

[Catana]

Originally Posted by Mary Webber

Wow, Catana, I didn't know any of the dollar stores carried foods other than canned or boxed stuff.

We have some stores near called Big Lots that are really cheap, and we have two local (Maine) chains, Marden's and Reny's that sell salvage ond overstock stuff at great prices.

How about in your area??

It seems to be unusual for dollar stores to have frozen and refrigerated foods. Dollar Tree is the third owner of this store since I've been using it, and the freezer and fridge cases were already there. I consider myself lucky because I don't have a car, and have the Dollar Tree, a Family Dollar, a Save-a-Lot grocery store and a couple of thrift stores all within walking distance.

[FrugalNYC]

I've gotten some Fruit of the loom T-shirts. water balloons for the kids in the summer time. can beat the price for little things like that at the dollar stores.

[CoffeeCookie]

We have a store called the 99 cents store here in Los Angeles. I love that place. Depending on what store you go to, you can get name brand items for 99 cents. Everything from food to clothing (usually kid stuff). I mostly get my cleaning products and some food from the store.

[~NeonFire~]

In the US, I didn't like Dollar Tree that much. In fact, I never really found any dollar store that impressed me too much.

Now that I'm living in the middle of nowhere in Canada, I shop at the local Great Canadian Dollar Store a bit. It's not much of a dollar store, considering items go up to $30, but a lot are at $1-$1.50 and most are around the $2 mark and it's still cheaper than getting the items elsewhere. The feeling that you're supporting local residents of the town (there's 2000 people here and it's very closeknit) that own the store is good too.

When I go to the nearest city, I usually shop at Dollarama and I've spent over $150 there at once. It's not exactly local (unless local means China), but the savings are amazing.

[Designgal34]

I've hit the Dollar Tree in my area the last few years for decent christmas decorations. You can get the lights, ornaments, etc for really cheap--sometimes the items cost $2 or $3 a piece, but still, you can't really beat it!

[Catana]

Originally Posted by CoffeeCookie

We have a store called the 99 cents store here in Los Angeles. I love that place. Depending on what store you go to, you can get name brand items for 99 cents. Everything from food to clothing (usually kid stuff). I mostly get my cleaning products and some food from the store.

It depends on the chain, of course, but dollar stores have changed quite a bit over the years. I think a lot of people don't realize that some of them also carry name brands. Items come and go quickly, but they're worth watching for. Sometimes the no-name generics are just as good, but when my local store has name-brand frozen veggies, I grab them because the quality is almost always better.

[redsoxmaniac]

The dollar store is good for certain things...holiday wrap, cleaning products, buckets, bins, sometimes spices, certain can goods, sometimes regional products.

[FrugalNYC]

Picked up a bag of chicken nuggets a few days ago. Not quite a dollar for the frozen foods though. But still cheap.

[wildgift]

Originally Posted by CoffeeCookie

We have a store called the 99 cents store here in Los Angeles. I love that place. Depending on what store you go to, you can get name brand items for 99 cents. Everything from food to clothing (usually kid stuff). I mostly get my cleaning products and some food from the store.

I like 99c too, and go there often. You have to watch out about the cost/unit, because they often aren't any cheaper than a discount store.

One secret is that the vegetables they sell there are from Trader Joe's, but repackaged. If you see a new batch show up, they're usually a great deal.
I've also seen vegetables from Wal-Mart there, not repackaged, but the stuff was priced too high for Wal-Mart so it was going to hit the expiration date.

I have been going to some of the "indie" 99 cent stores. One called $1 Mas O Menos sells mini-USB cables for $1.50 that go for $5 to $10 elsewhere.

[SouthShoreGirl]

There's a Dollar Tree up the block from me as well. It's mostly hit or miss, but I do buy some things there, like cleaning supplies, Xmas decorations and even shampoo/conditioner/face wash.

I also will get chips and dip and paper goods/plastic ware there when we have parties and get-togethers.