About 10 years ago I worked the register at a Dollar Tree store for exactly 1 six hour shift. I almost didn't go back to pick up my paycheck it was so bad. The customer base of these stores is very very sad. For every artist that's browsing for materials and inspiration there are a thousand little old ladies buying shit they don't need with money they don't have.<p>And for the most part it is shit. The food is too suspect to feed to my pets, and the consumer goods are notional facsimiles of real products. Like the Wow brand ShamWow, or the dish rag that won't make it through a wash cycle, or the Nerf gun knockoff that doesn't have any moving parts. None of this stuff is worth lifting off the shelf, let alone paying a dollar for.<p>I spent 6 hours of punching 1 dollar, 1 dollar, 1 dollar pondering over the people bringing this garbage to my counter, demanding indestructible plastic cups be wrapped in a dollars worth of tissue paper, repeatedly asking how much products cost as if they had not yet noticed they were in a dollar store. "How did this 70 year old woman decide today was the day she needed 20 slightly deformed acrylic cups? Has she been cupless all this time? And why return 2 hours later to get a dozen fake flowers?" I think I attributed that hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach to some concern that all these fools were being had, or perhaps that I was contributing to their hoarding illness.<p>The dread I felt was spot on, but the attribution was faulty. These people are not fools. The products they buy aren't fake but symbolic. They brought these offerings to my altar so that I might perform the "glassware" wrapping and price-check rituals of consumerism. I thought I was taking a job working a register, when I was really stepping behind the altar to become the liturgist of the Enfield congregation of the Dollar Tree denomination of Consumerism.<p>I have never been much of a devotee of the Consumer way of life, and the Dollar Tree denomination is the snake handling denomination of Consumerism. The products in a Walmart or Target could conceivably fill someone's need or desire. I doubt that much of what they sell is sold to fulfill practical wants and needs--their congregation of faithful parishioners who come to worship and trample every Black Friday for the year's must have electronic gadget attend regularly on a more distributed schedule throughout the year as well. But there is still a semblance of shame in the Walmart and Target version of idol worship. Your car floormats are a little dusty and the ones with the really rad flames on them just happen to be on sale! Outside the dollar store we're not quite ready to honestly confront what we believe in, who we are. At 16, with the quickly fading inoculation of an upbringing in the values of Presbyterianism, hard work, and education I was certainly not ready to deal with what I found in that Dollar Tree.
People saving money are using coupons (I mean old fashioned coupons in newspapers like P&G Brandsaver). For example, lets say you need bleach, and you have a coupon for 50 cents off. You'll wait til Target/Walmart has bleach on sale for 50% off, then purchase it with the coupon as well. You can sometimes get bottles of bleach for 25c or sometimes free. My family does this, so don't tell me it doesn't work :)<p>Most of the dollar stores do not accept coupons (Dollar Tree definitely does not)
A "dollar store" story: <a href="http://www.neardeathexperiments.com/smf/index.php?topic=1966.0" rel="nofollow">http://www.neardeathexperiments.com/smf/index.php?topic=1966...</a><p>Short version: on a casual challenge, I assembled a camping/survival ("bug out bag") kit from a dollar store with just $15.<p>Fun when a store has a broad range of stuff and one wonders "what can I do with pocket change here?"
I can not speak for other dollar stores but please let me educate you on how Dollar Tree manages their corporate chain.<p>First off there should never be an expired item in the store. If by chance you happen to come across an expired item, by making an employee or manager aware the item will be removed from the shelves immediately.<p>Secondly if you look closely at many of the products in the store you will find brand names to be different but the manufactures to be fairly well known. Americans tend to buy known brand names, thanks to advertising. Ask anyone who works in a packaging and labeling factory and they will tell you they label the same product with multiple different branding labels.<p>With that said my final point. Many company's have to much product, Dollar Tree corporate finds these companies and offers to buy all of their over head that would otherwise go spoiled or unsold at less than 48 cents on the unit. A prime example is Chicken of the Sea tuna which is owned by Van Camp's, however in Dollar Tree it is simply labeled Van Camp's (same great tuna just a different label and 20 cents cheaper).<p>Items will only be thrown in the dumpster if they're damaged or expired. Otherwise they're sent to another branch location for sale if it doesn't sell well.<p>Sure Dollar Tree deals with mass production companies located in china and other "cheap labor" parts of the world, so does the rest of the big boys in the S&P 500.<p>In my community Dollar Tree is the only company that hasn't frozen wages, still offers competitive wages, and offers decent employee benefits. I do not work for Dollar Tree nor am I affiliated with them in anyway, I currently work for the black hole A&P.
<i>All around, the stacks of products and aisles of merchandise screamed a technicolor siren song.</i><p>To me it screamed lots of overpriced cheap junk. Seriously, these stores are overpriced for the merchandise they sell.
Always nice to see that friendliness can go a long way for smaller local places, that aren't necessarily restaurants.<p>Of course, not all dollar stores are created equal. There are some nice ones, but also "soul-less" ones that just sell complete, Toys-R-Us bargain bin junk that no one would enjoy...
I must admit I always worry about toxic chemicals in the cheap plastic stuff from dollar stores. Probably I am too paranoid, but that is the way it is for now.
Wow, is it the fact checking department's day off? I mean they actually interviewed the president of Dollar General and yet they haven't figured out the fact that Dollar General is not a dollar store. Guess what Family Dollar is not a Dollar Store either.
100 Yen shops are everywhere in Japan. I was amazed at how much I began to depend on them. Craft supplies and costumes for Halloween, snacks, towels, etc. If I used it every day, and it wasn't clothes or food, I probably bought it at a 100 Yen shop.<p><a href="http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2077.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2077.html</a>
All very interesting, but it sounds like one thing this area is missing are the apps and social media links that might help grow the 22% part of their audience into an even larger share. I presume there are folks on here who could help fix that :-)