The Dollar Store is Dead

[samplegirl]

Business Insider
The dollar store is officially dead
Mary Hanbury
September 30, 2021, 9:26 am

dollar tree and dollar general
Dollar stores traditionally sold all items for $1 or less. Mario Anzuoni / Reuters and Jim Young / Reuters
Dollar Tree on Tuesday said it's adding $1.25 and $1.50 price points at some stores.

Until then it was the last big dollar-store chain sticking to a $1 price cap.

The news signals the death of the traditional dollar-store concept in the US.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

Dollar Tree, the last of the big dollar-store chains selling items for $1 or less, on Tuesday said it was officially "breaking the buck" by adding $1.25 and $1.50 price points in some stores.

[lark]

1. Sad sign of the times.

We go to Dollar Tree for that difference, damn it.

[niyad]

2. Dollar general has long sold items at far more than a dollar, as has family dollar.

[samplegirl]

3. Yes it slowly kept raising

the price of nearly everything. I can remember being able to buy soup in a can for less than any grocery chain. Same way with ketsup and mustard or just something as simple as batteries.
Not any longer. Don’t shop there much even though there is one right around the corner.
Only if I’m out of something cooking and need it in a hurry.

[ProfessorGAC]

36. Absolutely

We happen to have both DG & FD in town.
There has never been a time that everything in there was a buck or less. Never.
The DG here sells tabletop Christmas trees during the holidays. I don't think anybody would expect to get a 33 inch artificial tree for a dollar.
They've sold batteries forever. Packs of batteries aren't a dollar anywhere.
The "dollar" moniker has been a name for marketing only, for a long, long time.

[SYFROYH]

4. There wasn't much at the 5 and Dime that was..

…was 5 or 10 cents by the time I was a kid in the 70s and 80s.

It happens.

[House of Roberts]

5. Chains can't make enough profit only offering items that sell for $1.

My Family Dollar four blocks from my house has all kinds of items that wouldn't be in the store if that was a company policy. I'd rather have those items available even if the price is over $1.

I bought name brand toilet paper for $5 yesterday. for a buck you could maybe get two rolls of store brand, if that.

[abqtommy]

6. It's been a long time since there was a Dollar Store here in Albuquerque. In

the past I did a lot of shopping there and still use the set of dinner plates that I
purchased there. These are good quality plates in that the glaze used has never cracked or chipped and it's hazardous to be ingesting even small particles of glaze.

I used to buy candles there also but they're no more so I do my purchasing elsewhere. I can adapt but still mourn for what was.

[niyad]

7. Let us not forget that dollar general corporate shielded one of its managers,

who sexually assaulted a 13 year old boy working at one of their stores, located on tribal land. They claimed that tribes had no authority or standing to prosecute non-natives who commit crimes on tribal, sovereign lands. The Supreme Court disagreed.

I have not shopped at dollar general since becoming aware of that case years ago.

[Mad_Machine76]

23. OMFG

[niyad]

33. Google dollar general vs Misissippi Band of Choctaw Indians (sorry, I cannot link

or copy and paste from my computer). The supervisor's name is dale townsend.

[bmbmd]

8. When I was a kid

We had a Five and Dime store

[Klaralven]

12. A July 1956 dime had the same buying power as a dollar today

https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

Since today's dime is worth what a penny was in the '50s, they should stop making pennies and nickles and just use one number after the decimal point, e.g. prices would look like $49.9 instead of $49.99.

[Hortensis]

9. Things like better wages, Child Income Tax Credit and on-line shopping are big threats

to the "dollar" chains rock-bottom model. When people have more money, they have more choices, including of better quality.

I want to see most of these now depressingly ubiquitous chains disappear as fast as they appeared, as most of the dime stores born out of the Depression did. This is an extremely wealthy nation, and we could make it happen fast. We're trying to make a big start on that right now.

[GoCubsGo]

21. Yep, and the landfills and thrift stores are loaded with their crap.

If folks are worried about saving money, they should try the Goodwill or other second-hand shop first. Odds are, they'll find a lot of that dollar store stuff there for well less than a buck. Better for the environment, too.

[Hortensis]

25. +100. Cheap, "pre-landfill" goods never if I can avoid it.

I'll take good quality secondhand any day, and we have fun shopping "antique" flea markets and second-hand shops too.

[bmbmd]

10. When I was a kid

We had a Five and Dime store

[Hortensis]

11. :) I worked in Woolworth's as a teen. Usefully near us is a "salvage"

store that's packed every day with new goods of wide variety and decent quality, and these days is always packed with customers. It was a thriving family business long before the Great Recession, though, and should continue to do well after widespread prosperity is reestablished. Good business model. Big discounts, changeable offerings, no junk.

[LeftInTX]

15. And nothing cost 5 or 10 cents..except some candy

My tooth fairy reward was a dime. It sure didn't go far..LOL..1963-66

It was kind of a joke.
Fortunately, molars were 25 cents and I was able to scrape a dollar after saving up..LOL

[Patton French]

13. They've been selling stuff over $1 for a long time..

The “dollar” name is just a draw for business.

[niyad]

34. Dollar Tree sells for a dollar. Dollar general and family dollar have not done so

in many years.

[malthaussen]

14. Dollar, schmoller. I remember when "five and ten" meant cents. n/t

[LeftInTX]

16. I remember when "five and dime" meant nothing

Me with tooth fairy booty: "Why can't I buy anything for a dime in this store?"


Seriously, tooth fairy gave me a dime, but I couldn't buy anything with it except candy..LOL

[malthaussen]

26. It was a conspiracy. Get candy, lose more teeth, get more dimes. n/t

[George II]

30. Are there any Woolworth stores left in the country? The Woolworth Building is still around....

....in lower Manhattan. It was the tallest building in the world from 1910 until 1930, when the Chrysler Building topped it.

[NurseJackie]

35. I think that Woolworth is still a retail store in Australia... or New Zealand.

[George II]

37. I just checked - there are some in Mexico and they're thriving. The Australia "Woolworths" are....

....an unrelated chain of supermarkets. There's also Woolworths chain of department stores in South Africa.

The things I learn by asking questions, eh?

[hvn_nbr_2]

17. In related news, Motel 6 is dead too.

For those not old enough to remember, the name Motel 6 is because originally every Motel 6 in the country had a single room for $6 per night.

Inflation made that impossible to maintain, just as inflation made "5 and dime" stores impossible to maintain.

[DFW]

18. Pretend to be British

Put up the flag of the UK, and say everything is a pound (about $1.35 now) or less.

That will give them some breathing room. Right, gov'nor?

[FSogol]

19. As long as penny candy doesn't disappear! Wait, what?

[samplegirl]

22. I can't believe the price

of candy!
I always give big bars to my neighbor kids on Halloween. Barely worth their time!

[BlueIdaho]

20. Gone the way of the 88 store and the 99 store...

Little kids with allowance money burning a hole in their pocket are mourning today.

[FSogol]

24. Next you'll tell me comics aren't 25 cents anymore.

[bif]

27. They treat their employees like dirt. I boycott them.

[Sneederbunk]

28. Many people cannot afford to boycott them.

[niyad]

31. Exactly.

[George II]

29. Now the Buck and a Quarter Store

[vanlassie]

32. Love at the Five and Dime. ❤️