The Dollar Store Is Officially "Dead"

[Steve R.]

The dollar store is officially dead

For years, Dollar Tree was the only big dollar-store chain that stuck to a $1 price cap. Now, it's raising prices to $1.25.

www.businessinsider.com

When will those ferociously advocating for a minimum wage ever comprehend that they are generating a positive feedback loop? A case of the dog chasing its tail and never getting it. A minimum wage is destructive to the economy and never actually helps those it is intended to help as inflation deflates the intent of the minimum wage.

Current US Inflation Rates: 2000-2025

The annual inflation rate for the United States was 2.4% for the 12 months ending March, compared to the previous rate increase of 2.8%, according to U.S. Labor Department data published on April 10, 2025. The next inflation update is scheduled for release on May 13 at 8:30 a.m. ET, providing...

www.usinflationcalculator.com

 

[Isaac]

I was curious how they said only a small part of Dollar Tree has been dedicated to $1 items (even before), which isn't true for my local one in my neighborhood. That one near me everything in the store is $1 except the stuff near the checkout stands (coke, candy bars).

Yes - it's too bad!

Read an article - can't remember which one of them it was, I think Family Dollar, which is the most dangerous store in America. Shootings, etc. Pretty predictable, they are always in awful neighborhoods!

 

[conception_native_0123]

which isn't true for my local one in my neighborhood. That one near me everything in the store is $1 except the stuff near the checkout stands (coke, candy bars).

i've been in numerous stores and not all things are priced at a dollar. it's always been this way for as long as I can remember.

 

[AccessBlaster]

Have you heard of "five below" same concept except five dollars or below.

 

[Isaac]

Yes, we have a five below near us. I've been in there once - I liked it a lot actually. Talk about a great resource for settling into a college dorm.

 

[Isaac]

i've been in numerous stores and not all things are priced at a dollar. it's always been this way for as long as I can remember.

I just remember I returned an item once a couple years ago. The lady said - grab anything and just wave at me on your way out. I said - anything? She said well - anything except the candy and food in the display racks/fridge by these stands. Everything else is $1

Maybe I was in one of the old fashioned ones. Now the other 'dollar' stores, they've never been faithful to the concept

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I got a great holster for my Samsung A71 cell phone there. Relatively secure, built to protect the front screen if you remember to holster the phone correctly. Five Below had it, even WalMart didn't have it.

 

[Dick7Access]

Watch Dick date himself!
I remember and use to often go into our local 5 and dime store.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Yep. We had a TG&Y (5 and dime store) up the highway from us when Dad still worked as a firefighter. Got some decent candy from it, but my parents shopped there only for simple stuff like colored sewing thread and stuff I don't even recall any more.

 

[Dick7Access]

I also took a girl for pizza and a coke after a Hight school basket ball game, for 75 cents for pizza and 5 cents for cokes. Big spender 85 cents total. (1958)

 

[Steve R.]

I also took a girl for pizza and a coke after a Hight school basket ball game, for 75 cents for pizza and 5 cents for cokes. Big spender 85 cents total. (1958)

Totally incomprehensible that our political leader don't see the "destruction" resulting from inflationary policies, such as the minimum wage. Actually, they may, but then they sell themselves out to get elected. Anyway, below is the McDonalds menu at the time I entered college. Moreover, I was able to fully pay for college through part time work at the equivalent (today) of a 7-11. So the ability to earn enough through part-time work to pay for college has also apparently disappeared.

McDonald's Menu, 1965

savedfromthepaperdrive.blogspot.com

 

[JonXL]

A lot of stuff at Dollar Tree (and other dollar stores) was never worth a dollar to begin with. The time spent finding the rare deal seldom paid for itself in the return on said deal.

 

[Pat Hartman]

So the ability to earn enough through part-time work to pay for college has also apparently disappeared.

But they have really nice lazy rivers and common areas

 

[Dick7Access]

I give up Pat. What are lazy rivers?

 

[AccessBlaster]

 

[Isaac]

the ability to earn enough through part-time work to pay for college has also apparently disappeared.

It only has for people who have, apparently, missed the fact that community colleges are still available, just as good, and dirt-cheap.
College was expensive when I went too, in 1997-2003.
I just did community college for the first couple years, then went to the cheapest state school I could find for the last 2 - part time, while I worked full time - and graduated with no debt.

It's still entirely possible to do that, even today. Plus, many community colleges are beginning to offer 4 year degrees - a few, anyway.

The only people suffering are the people who are obsessed with going to a private, 4-year University, on-campus, with all the bells and whistles, and with zero scholarships of any kind.

Which is, of course, financially, the worst possible way to do it.

 

[Steve R.]

@Isaac: Good point. Though I know of community colleges, I did not go one; so they were unfortunately outside my preview when I was thinking of my post. One really important aspect of community colleges is the teaching of trade professions. We used to live near Mt. San Antonio College. I used to drool over potentially enrolling in one of their aviation mechanic programs.

 

[Pat Hartman]

The nice thing about community colleges is that at least in Connecticut, credits directly transfer to state colleges. Gives you a way to stay close to home and commute for two years and transfer for your final two. Given the cost differential, that's worth at least $50,000

 

[Isaac]

The nice thing about community colleges is that at least in Connecticut, credits directly transfer to state colleges. Gives you a way to stay close to home and commute for two years and transfer for your final two. Given the cost differential, that's worth at least $50,000

Good point. Even to a randomly chosen private university, if you stuck with general education type stuff, most all would transfer .... But they work really closely with state schools.

That's it out of me on this thread - sorry, I'm just SO sick of hearing people complain about "the cost of college", and then quote these outlandish figures that are only rooted in the reality of people who make the worst possible choices in the whole affair. It's like saying "See? This house in New York costs 3 million, I'll never be able to afford it", but not mentioning that nothing prevents me from moving to Missouri and getting a nicer one for $195.

 

[Pat Hartman]

There is a cache to being able to say you went to an ivy league school or one of the big 10, etc. However, those are the schools that are positioning our children and turning them into Marxist marionettes. The indoctrination was bad enough at the state schools and the community college. My granddaughter who graduated suma cum laude missed out on a scholarship because in her interview she said that college shouldn't be free for everyone. She felt that if the "state" was going to pay that the "people" aught to get something for their money. At a minimum the person should have some aptitude for the program being perused and the course of study aught to provide actual employment for the student...