Dollar stores

Westminster, BC store outside Vancouver.

 For over three decades, dollar stores have been todays five and dimes.  While it's too easy now to go to Family Dollar, Dollar Tree and Dollar General, there have been others in CNY and beyond.  In the early '90s, there was All for a Dollar and Everything's $1.00.  When I moved to Dutchess County, I encountered Just a Buck.  Up the Hudson River in the Capital Region, there used to be Yankee One Dollar.  There's still Real Deals around CNY (the only indie to have the one price left) and in Syracuse we have 99¢ City (once with two stores and now just the one) and Dollar Wise which are just low priced variety stores.  Many have closeout and surplus store brand items from large chains based out of town and state.  I just worry if the expiry date is reached when the item should be binned.

In Fulton, Dollar General replaced the last surviving Woolworths in the region when it closed in 1997.  Only $1 was absorbed by Dollar Tree.  That recently merged with Family Dollar.  The pandemic economy has caused people to have to buy more at these chains, which also move in on food deserts, which have been kept in check in places such as Harris County (Houston).

With the cost of many goods going up by the day, fewer places will have it all for that little, even at the one chain as I go there and can't always find what I want when I'm on a budget.  At least there's still one kind of store that will give those looking for a bargain on everyday needs.