Dollar Stores: Are They Really Worth Going To?

Every town has at least one or more dollar stores in their immediate area - promising lower prices than the 'bigger' stores and better quality, too, however, on a recent excursion to one of these 'discount' stores I began to wonder, "Are they really worth going to?" Here are three local Dollar Stores in my region and a good rundown of if they are, in my eyes, worth going to.

Dollar Tree

The Dollar Tree's motto is everything for one dollar and they're right. No matter what they have in stock, prices are guaranteed to never be over a single dollar per item. Sometimes they have special offers of two for a dollar (such as their canned soups) which make it even more worthwhile in shopping there. These stores tend to have almost anything you'd need - including brand names. Yes, while a lot of stores may sell 'their brand' items, Dollar Tree stores tend to aquire real name products on occasion, such as Suave Shampoos and even Dawn Dish Soap on occasion.

While some of the products may be unheard of, they may just be popular brands from another area. This is where I, personally, tend to discover better products on occasion - such as a better smelling kitchen cleaner or even a better boxed brownie mix. The best thing is knowing if it doesn't work as well as you planned the only investment was one dollar.

However, there is one small downside to the Dollar Tree- the only cold items for sale are 20 ounce bottles of cola. They do not sell cold meats, milk or anything else cold, however they do have canned means such as tuna, chicken and even on a rare occasion imitation crab meat. Also when they do sell clothing in stores, they tend to be more oriented for the under 1 year of age crowd. They also rarely sell big packs of diapers/pullups. They may have sample packs of 3 diapers, but never anything beyond that. However in an emergency they're well worth it.
All in all I'd highly suggest hitting the Dollar Tree stores if you can, because you can definitely get more for your dollar. Besides, who doesn't like the ability to find better quality at a much lower price?

Family Dollar