For the love of Dollar Stores

dollar billLet me begin with a breakdown of the different types of dollar stores because although they have the word dollar in their names, they vary in ways that will make me choose one over the other, depending on what I need.

The Dollar Tree – An American of discount that sells items for $1 or less. Less! I once bought a bag of Christmas gift bows, a mini gingerbread flavored candle, and 100 Christmas tags for 10 cents each. They’re a Fortune 500 company believe it or not. They have about 13,600 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Pros

  • No tricks. You never have to ask if something is really $1, unlike other “dollar” stores.

Cons

  • Very few name brands. This may be a turn-off for a lot of people, but come on, it’s a dollar store. I estimate that 90% of the brands they carry are those I’ve never heard of.
  • You can’t trust the quality of certain items.  Examples below.
    • Electronics – stay away from Mini Portable Headphone Speakers that you plug into your phone. They will NOT boost the volume of anything. It actually worsens it.
    • Foods, health & beauty, and other things that you (may) ingest. I have a good feeling about our Food and Drug Administration standards, but sometimes I believe these off-brand products do not go through the same rigorous quality assurance testing that the big boys do. I can’t prove it, but I am following my gut on this one.
  • Randomness. That unheard of Matt Dillon movie he did before he got famous? Part 2 of that movie is at The Dollar Tree. The fourth book of the “Left Behind” series? There are eight copies of just that one book. That’s it.

Best Dollar Tree deals:

Continue Reading For the love of Dollar Stores