Dollar Stores

[Mary Webber]

Have you been to a Dollar Store lately? Some now accept credit cards. Some are now $1.50 Stores, some have stuff that costs a whole lot more than a dollar, some have just one type of merchandise, and some are just plain chintzy. What are you favorites and why?

In my area (Maine), I really like the Dollar Tree stores. Clean and well-stocked, with especially good buys on health and beauty products, cleaning supplies, art and school supplies and kitchen sutff.

[Looby]

Unfortunately around here the dollar stores are mostly full of junk so I don't go in unless I desperately need some thread for mending.
However I am reasonably near an awesome Toonie store ($2) Daiso- a Japanese store with loads of great imported items- little rice bowls, chopstick sets etc. They also have awesome Japanese candy!

[Vio]

We have Dollar General in the Midwest. They have great prices on laundry soap.

[arkadofbabylon.org]

I love our dollar stores here in the SF area. Some of them do stock only "junky" things, but others have a great variety of little trinkets that I enjoy. I usually find great little stocking stuffers and housewarming gifts (like placemats, napkin rings, etc.) at the dollar store.

I also buy soap there -- our dollar stores tend to sell Zote soap, and I make home made laundry detergent with that. Overall though, it's hit or miss re: what is in stock from week to week.

[lucille]

I can't remember what chain, maybe Dollar Tree, is the better one where we are in the midwest. I find things like glass bowls and food containers that are as good as the ones at regular stores.

[Catana]

I live half a block away from a Dollar Tree, and it's been one of the main reasons I can live comfortably on my Social Security. Luckily, it has freezer and cooler cases, and a dry grocery section, so I save quite a lot on food.

[purplefdu]

The two near us aren't too great. The Sanford one is incredibly nice but a bit of a drive unless we're swinging by a friends out there or the movie theater. Unless we need glassware or "trinkets" especially beach toy in summer we can generally get better bargains elsewhere though.

[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??

[gt0163c]

We have the normal contingent of dollar type stores but I don't shop in the very often. I find that I can find a lot of things as cheap or cheaper at other stores, especially using coupons/rebates and grocery stores or Walgreens. However, I do stop by Dollar Tree or Big Lots probably once a month. Big Lots often has good deals on tea bags and sometimes has other food stuffs that are hard to find in my area (Faygo soda, maple leaf cookies and other things that are common in the Detroit area, where I grew up, but are hard to find in Texas where I now live.). Dollar Trees have also been great for school and craft supplies for VBS programs that my church has done during mission trips. Prices for things like colored popsicle sticks and glitter glue pens were much less than anywhere else.

Until recently, we had a couple of stores in the 99Cent Only chain. I got aquainted with those stores when I lived in Southern California briefly. Especially in California (land of no double coupons) I was able to find some great deals there. In Texas, again, not as much, but I usually went every couple of months to see what they had and often came out with something.

[Ms. Ferret]

Originally Posted by Looby

However I am reasonably near an awesome Toonie store ($2) Daiso- a Japanese store with loads of great imported items- little rice bowls, chopstick sets etc. They also have awesome Japanese candy!

Another vote for Daiso. My roommate and I tend to find fairly good stuff there (packages of dishwashing sponges, random kitchen goods, Japanese snacks, small dishes, etc.). The challenge is, of course, to walk out with just what we needed to get, and to not spend half an hour wandering around picking up things like "ooh! I don't need this set of tiny plastic bottles shaped like bunnies, but they're so CUTE."