Lots of stuff!
Was just there today.
Buy fabric softener, air freshners, crackers, chips, cards, paper tablets, cig lighters, balloons, on and on and on!

Don't buy their canned good though!

Dollars Stores, they used to be called Dime Stores when I was young. Before that they were referred to as the 'Five and Dime Store'.

Soon they will have names like the "C-Note Store" or "Benjamin's".

Target used to have an area in their stores called "The One Spot". Now they have quietly renamed it to "The Spot" since nothing in it is a dollar anymore, and calling it "The Five Spot" was too expensive to generate interest by shoppers.

The stuff the Dollar Stores sell is all junk and overpriced junk at that.

Buy most of my cleaning supplies there.
Today, they had a supply of Snuggle air fresheners. Bought two for the bathrooms.
I love Dollar Tree!

All sorts of Dollar stores around, under various names. Sometimes you can do better at the regular chains --look in the sale section etc. Also check garage sales. Another thing, some so call $$ stores sell things 1.00 and up. Check Big Lots, Ace Hardware, and even the reg. dept stores. With all the sales on now, the places like Penneys, etc are really lowering the prices.

I use the two local dollar stores for supplies like toilet paper, aluminum foil, wax paper, etc. I do not buy food there--just a silly prejudice, but I remember the toothpaste problem, so nothing that goes in our mouths comes from the dollar stores.
I do find good bargains on baking pans, pie plates, and cooking utensils like spatulas and sieves.
If you want small glass jars for storing spices, may I suggest a craft shop like Michael's or Hobby Lobby? I bought several for $1 each to give as Christmas presents (filled with home grown herbs, of course).
As Dilly Dally said, they used to be 5 and 10 cent stores. Inflation has bumped them up to dollar stores!

Since my DH works for one I am in ours all the time. I buy all my cleaning supplies, paper products and odd ball stuff there. A few food products, like milk since our grocery is over 10 miles away.

Trish

glenda_al - why not buy canned goods?

Kathleen

The only one I like very much is the 99 Cents Only stores. They are in Arizona, Texas and California...maybe a few other places. They sell fresh produce. I just got a beautiful brociflower there a couple of days ago, and a big package of carrots for my horses. Everything is 99 cents or less. Another thing I love...they sell plants, altho this year, they haven't been as nice an assortment as in years past, but I have bought dozens of beautiful tropicals...various kinds of banana trees, anthuriums, hoyas, ferns, many kinds of tropical shrubs, even variegated ginger and a pot with miniature roses mixed in with everything else. Sometimes they have nice big pots...like glazed colors on the outside and clay on the inside. Some of them had price tags for 14.99 but there, went for 99 cents. I don't know if they were seconds or just extras.
Also rose bushes, African violets, bulbs...lots of different things that you don't normally find in dollar stores.

Unfortunately, none really near me, but I stop in when I am in Houston or Pasadena. I also buy Awesome cleanser. That's about it for me...those are the things I go there to buy.

It's a great place for greeting cards (50 cents), wrapping paper and seasonal decorations/items.

You can't beat the prices on cleaning products, some are name brands.

I like the Deals stores. Used to be everything was $1.00, but now some items are more. I buy gift bags, bows, scrapbooking supplies... things like that.

Dollar stores are for the rich also!(no not rich here) I love them, they have everything you need at a great price. Go have a look.

I like Dollar Tree--there are a lot of them here. But you have to pick and choose which ones you shop at. If they're in a more upscale neighborhood, they have nicer items, more craft and decorative stuff. The ones in lower economic neighborhoods have a lot more junk and aren't kept up as nicely.

I do stay away from things like foods and medicines--you often see that those things are past the expiration dates, if you look.

And you want to avoid buying cleaning supplies there--even if they carry a brand you normally use. The major brands make watered down versions--that look like the regular, stronger grocery-store items--to be sold in the dollar stores.

But dollar stores are great for little trinkets for the kids, greeting cards (2/$1), little craft items. I like to stock up on those Sterilite shoe boxes for storing stuff. And now and then you find a good book in a Dollar Tree. Once I found big boxes of page protectors--I use them with my students to cover their recipes, so I bought all the boxes they had of them. That was years ago, and I haven't run out yet!

Oh, yes, I've got a bunch of really nice tempered glass pie pans I got there. You never know if they're going to have something or not, but can't hurt to give a look.

We have an "Everything's a Dollar " store and a Dollar Tree. both are true $ stores and usually carry a different line of items we also had Dollar General and Family Dollar but they are not true 1 dollar stores and have different price ranges.
they also have a nice selection of things
My target still has its One Spot shop but now carries a little higher prices in it too.

I love all those stores. My favorite is Big Lots. Never know what you may find. I used to buy Lucky Leaf clam chowder from the Dollar Store. It's delicious--thick and creamy. My kitchen rug came from the Dollar Store. When I took it to the checkout it rang up 1 cent. I told the clerk that couldn't be right, but there was a line behind me and she just shrugged and said, "Well that's what it rang up as". Alrighty then! I wash it pretty often and it's still holding up well after a year.

We have another discount-like store called "Tuesday Morning". Not as cheap but I flat love that store. Again, you never know what you'll find, but it's all pretty and good quality stuff. If you have one in your area, check it out. I'd like to work there. (Thinking of employee discount.)

The "dollar stores" around here contain inexpensive imported items. Read: junk that is not regulated for content, age, manufacture, and so on.

Most of the stuff is from countries like china and india where items can be made at slave wages with no regard to human life or environmental impact. Nobody is checking these imported products for contaminants. Many of the wares may even be counterfit - such as seemingly brand name toothpaste or cleaners. Food items are unregulated for contents, and usually are close to expiry dates. Who knows how or where this stuff was stored before it hit the shelf.

Glassware, trinkets, and other things are often seconds or casts offs that would otherwise be garbage, so are very inexpensive.

I have not shopped at any dollar type stores in Canada for a few years now.

I don't like Dollar General anymore.
They keep raising their prices, no longer carry the vitamins I always bought there, and no longer carry Dollar Generals toilet paper, grrrr!

My intention is to carry a spare set of reading glasses in the car, but ...

... sometimes the spare ... isn't there.

I can usually get a replacement at Dollarama (or another kind of dollar store).

Trouble is - sometimes it takes darn near a dollar's worth of gas to get to the Dollar store!

Life do have its problems, don't it?

ole joyful

I won't buy any food products at a dollar store. I have no idea where they came from. Also a lot of the 'name brand' stuff is actually copied and not the real stuff at all. So I won't buy things like toothpaste there either. I think in the last year, if I did buy anything in a dollar store, it was only a few scrap booking supplies or post cards. I find their stuff just seems so junky and cheap.

About a year ago, I bought a plastic waste basket for my downstairs "powder room". It cost $1 and was exactly what I needed in there. I bought paper goods, stuff like dinner napkins and index cards. I never buy brand-name things like shampoo or toothpaste bevcause it looks like knock-offs. I once bought batteries there, and when I tried them at home they were all dead. They wouldn't give me my money back, but they would exchange them. I threw them away and refuse to go back there. Crooks.

Hey, Dances, welcome back. We've missed you! Whatcha been doin'?

I think when speaking of a "Dollar Store" the name of the store should be stated. Just to say I got so-and-so at a $ store doesn't tell me anything.

Here we have Family Dollar, Dollar General and Dollar Tree. I buy any number of things at them, like those that have already been mentioned. They do have a lot of "junk" such as dust catchers, but some people really like those things. I have bought shorts, tops, socks, children's clothes for my great grands, etc. Where ever you shop you get what you pay for.

These stores are a boon for those who don't have the $$ to go to the upper class shops. They serve a purpose. And I expect more and more people will be shopping there as things get worse with the economy the way it is.

I would never refer to Big Lots as a dollar store.

Sue

I don't go to any of them much anymore because there's not any that are really convenient to me and I don't like "shopping" I go to a store to get what's on the list, occasionally something more if it's a good deal but I don't like going out just to see what they have.

Often these stores are a good place to get certain cleaners, spices and other items. Things like batteries are never a good deal there. People should know by now you only buy alkaline and should get a name brand otherwise you're wasting your money. However you have to know your prices because often the sizes are different and what looks cheap might not be. So it's buyer beware.

I do get a chuckle out of the irrational paranoia out there about dollar stores. Some still have the mindset that more expensive means better. Sometimes true, but often false.

And being afraid of the foodstuffs while King Nut salmonella peanut butter is fed to your relatives in the nursing homes, yourself and neighbors in restaurants... I think I'd rather stop by the dollar store and take my chances there! LOL

I'll take my chances too witht he canned goods. Who knows where the stuff in the grocery store is coming from? Now when I get botulism, you can say "I told her so".

What was the "toothpaste problem"? I am using a tube of it right now,

I'm another fan of Dollar Tree. I think some of the other "dollar" stores are misnamed, as their stuff costs a lot more than $1.

I bought some very nice martini glasses and wine glasses at Dollar Tree, made in the Netherlands. I like their Dead Sea Minerals creams (for hand & body, feet, etc.), made in Israel. Their bottled water comes from a domestic source and is pretty good. I like their small yellow "legal pads," three for $1. It's where I go for birthday gift wrap and (sometimes) cards. And I get all my cat litter there.

I've studiously avoided their cellophane packs of nuts from Thailand ever since I found a large insect part in one of them (!), but their Monet crackers (from Canada) are great for a party. In my popcorn days I liked Herr's Lite Popcorn, which they still sell at Dollar Tree.

Big Lots isn't a dollar store, but I check it out when I can. Their inventory changes all the time, and if you're lucky you can find a great bargain. I get rug pads there, and scored a great latex pillow and some Calphalon kitchen towels once. I always check out their makeup aisle. I get most of my teas there (from England, Sri Lanka, etc.), and occasionally find good brands of health foods in their grocery aisle. I've gotten some great pickles, salad dressing, and other top branded food products there. I do look at the expiration dates. And in my chocolate days (around the same time as my popcorn days), Big Lots was a fine source!

Susan