Are dollar stores healthy for the economy?

They may be or maybe not but still when i go to 3rd world countries I bring ten dollars worth of digital radios.I hand them out to those who are quite helpfull.it's great better than giving money.I see they have a whole range of cool stuff looks like it would cost a fortune in my hay day.These really nice calculators et al.

Hey, it's the old saying, "If you build a better mousetrap..................". IMO, anything that promotes competition is good for the economy. There is a large market for these Dollar stores.

There's nothing really new about dollar stores other than the name.

They used to be five and dimes.

I can recall Family Fair and stores of that type in Canada. Same range of products as 'dollar stores'.

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As in any other type of shopping, you need to know your prices. Dollar stores have good prices on some items, not so great on others.

Buyer beware.

but i think our 5 and dime stores had NA Goods now they are all Chinese.Which is wonderfull for them not so good for us.

It's been a long long time since things in the cheap shops were made in North America. That was why Walmart's marketing ploy at one point was "made in the U.S.A." It was already a rarity when Walmart started.

40 years ago, the cheap goods were from Japan. Remember those days?

Now japanese quality is one of the best?

Fascinating, isn't it.

We studied this in a marketing program I took about 15 years ago. A Japanese transistor radio was considered a piece of junk when I was a kid. We wanted a Dutch or German or American or British-made one.

Then Japanese products became 'top-quality', and the junk label based on to the Chinese. Now a number of Chinese products are considered to be better quality and the junk label is moving down the trail to the next country.

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I was in a restaurant after work yesterday. I was stopped by someone who wanted to talk about the tunic I was wearing. It has very distinctive frog toggle closures. The woman said, "That has to be Chinese. That quality doesn't come from anywhere else. Where did you buy it?" She was simply gushing about the tunic - partly because she felt it was of such good Chinese quality. I can't imagine someone being excited about Chinese-made clothing in that way 20 years ago - people used to cut the 'made in China' labels out of their clothes because they were embarrassed.

I remember in the 1950's when my mother broke out laughing when a sales clerk referred to some Chinese sweatshop clothing as "little imports".

I think anything that lowers expectations and standards for the American public is good for the people running bushlandia and that's all that really matters isn't it?

Get us slowly used to and accepting of having less?

Anybody remember "John's Bargain Stores", in the 50's and 60's? They were all the rage, at least in NY. They were constantly opening new stores.

Dollars Stores are a wonderful place to take small children with small allowances.

Is there a smell in them I mean a piped in smell ? I thinkthere is.