In NZ it’s where pretty much everyone goes to get stuff for really cheap (hence the name) kids go to get toys, parents go to get Knick knacks, flags or umbrellas, torches, lighters, hats, mirrors, arts and crafts, clothes, all year round Halloween costumes, pretty much everything you can imagine except food that isn’t lollies or chewing gum every economic class goes because it’s got great value, it’s mostly to buy stuff you either don’t care enough about to warrant spending too much or the only option to buy your kids toys or things you don’t think about needing as much as survival, as a kid it was a great pastime to just go to the 2 dollar shop and look around
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Dollar stores still exist in name even though prices have gone above $1/item in a lot of places.
Yes they’re called Dollar stores (though most things are now 1.25)…we also have a store called “Five Below”…which is bigger and has more and everything is under 5 dollars.
We have a variety of chain and independent stores like that. Some well known ones are Dollar General, 5 Below, and Dollar Tree.
Dollar Store, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar. Use to have the 99c Store but they went under within the past few years
Yes, in the US we have a brand of stores called Dollar Tree that are exactly what you described.
We have dollar tree, dollar general, family dollar
All USED to have everything for a dollar, but they are a bit more now. But still pretty cheap
We call them dollar stores, but yes they exist. The only caveat is that they’re not really $1 anymore.
There’s a few chain stores sort of like that – the Dollar Tree, Family Dollar. Those are more like general household crap rather than kids’ stuff, but, they have everything.
There’s also a lot of local variety stores, usually in old timey vacation destinations like the Oregon Coast or the Poconos, we used to call them “junk stores” (it was random toys, shirts, hats, games, candy, etc.)
https://www.fivebelow.com/
https://www.dollartree.com/
https://www.dollargeneral.com/
Dollar Stores exist, but (thanks to inflation) some “dollar stores” are really $1.25, $1.50, and $1.75 stores.
Won’t be long before we start to see Two Dollar Stores, I reckon.
Yes, there are lots of them, the largest probably being Dollar Tree. Until last year, there was also 99 Cent Only.
There are national chains called Five Below and Dollar Tree and Dollar General, etc. similar to the store you have mentioned. Then there are small independent stores that also charge similar prices.
If you ask the really old people, you’ll get people who remember “penny candy” shops.
Apparently you could buy small hard candies for 1 cent in the ’60s and below.
We have a variety of cheap stuff stores.
Several chains including Dollar Tree are called dollar stores – everything in the store was, for many years, $1.00. But a couple of years ago they had to increase the prices to $1.25 due to inflation. I still shop there, it’s surprising how many perfectly adequate items are only $1.25.
We also have a chain called Dollar General, which is not a dollar store or anything close to it, but many people see the word Dollar in the name and make an incorrect assumption.
And we have a chain called Five Below, which sells mostly items under $5, though it does have a small selection of items over $5.
Here’s another question for everyone scrolling though the comments, do you guys have Dairys? Is basically a petrol station that doesn’t sell fuel and only the snack drinks, pies, scratchies and a few emergency items like toilet paper milk bread or canned food
Yes but we call them dollar stores because things cost a dollar (1 USD). Of course, very few actually charge a dollar anymore, the such as Dollar Tree which charges $1.25 and it was a whole thing when they raised their prices 25 cents. Occasionally you may here references to nickle and dime shores/shops, especially in older media. They filled the same economic niche as dollar stores do know, back when nickles and dimes had significantly more spending power. The few that are left are often tourist novelty shops and charge accordingly. You may also hear mention of stores that charge 5 dollars or less, which are likely going to be replacing the dollar store’s place in the economy as the dollar spending power shrinks.
Yes, they are called dollar stores.
Dollar Tree/Dollar General/Family Dollar/Five Below. Inflation makes the stores more sloppy with actually adhering to their namesakes.
In addition to the dollar stores people have mentioned, a lot of kitschy tourist towns also have stores that advertise everything being below, say, $8 or so, and they actually follow that rule, unlike Dollar General where you can get things well over a dollar store
In the very distant past, we also had what were called “5 and Dime” stores where everything was between 5 and 10 cents.
Dollar Stores. There are 3 main store chains that I know of. They are no longer $1 items, but the prices are typically very low.
They were predominant in rural areas that did not have a Walmart for many years but now are everywhere and carry many more items than before.
They have become exceedingly popular in recent years
We call them dollar stores, but most dollar stores are no longer $1. Most of them are $1.25- $2 and some are around $5.
Dollar Tree. Everything is $1.25 (used to be $1)
Hey Google, do $2 shops exist in the US?
We have Dollar Tree where everything used to be $1. Now it’s all 1.25. Inflation or something like that.
Not only do we have them (as plenty of others have noted; including the names of the popular chains), they’re very common. To the point where almost every city will have at least one “Dollar General”
It’s kind of a running joke that you know you’re near civilization if you see a Dollar General. There’s also a joke that they pop up everywhere, like Spirit Halloween stores.
“Dollar Tree” and “Family Dollar” recently merged, so now there are also combined “Dollar Tree/Family Dollar” stores; the one near me is nicknamed the “Wakeman Mall” for the city it is located in.
Yes, there’s some common ones such as 99 Cent Store, Dollar Tree and Five Below. I’d say those are the biggest ones here
used to be dollar stores, now they are 1.25 thanks for inflation
Dollar tree is great. You just have to lower expectations a bit. There is just less in a package. Everything use to be a dollar but it’s now $1.25 and somethings are at least under $5.
99 cents o mas stores are pretty common.
Well they use to…
Yeah, but here they’re $1… chains like Dollar Tree, Dollar General. If you’re a baller, there’s Five Below ($5).
We have Dollar Store, Dollar General, and Everything’s a Dollar in Texas. So not exactly a $2 shop, but definitely in the same spirit.
Dollar stores.
Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree stores have taken over rural America. You’ll find one of these stores in literally every town that has a population between 1,000 and 30,000.
Back in the ’80s and early ’90s there was a store called everything’s a Dollar. It just got to the point with inflation that they couldn’t afford to sell anything for just a dollar. Nowadays there’s a store called five below where everything in the store is $5 or less. I doubt if they will hang in there at that level for much longer.
Ages ago, they were called five and dime stores. As in five cents or ten cents for all items. Woolworth’s (now gone from the USA) was one of the original.
Dollar stores like Dollar Tree and Dollar General are basically what you’re talking about. There’s also Five Below, but they focus more on electronics and candy. The others have a broader selection of merchandise like household goods and food.
If I recall correctly, NZ has $2 coins in wide circulation and they are as common as quarters in the US. The US technically still has $2 bills circulating, but they are relatively uncommon and not widely used.
So it makes sense that NZ businesses would set $2 as a convenient price point, while US stores would aim more for $1 or $5 simply because these are the denominations that the average consumer would have in their pocket.
They’re called Dollar Stores here, but a lot of the time things cost more than $1 nowadays
We have dollar general
Yep, the biggest chains are Dollar General & Dollar Tree – They both operate over 10,000 locations each in the US.
Until a few years ago we had a $1 store. Now we have a $1.25 store.
In addition to all the American chains mentioned Daiso, the Japanese equivalent chain, is expanding fast here.
Yes, they are a big business in the US. Dollar Tree is the largest nationwide I can think of, but there are plenty of others out there too.
Ours is now $1.25 shop. It’s fine.
We have 99 cent stores in NYC (nothing actually costs that, it’s just a local version of a convenience store. It’s like a mini Walmart or a very large dollar store.)
In the US we had $1 stores where everything was $1 basically since the 80s. Since COVID, they all sell things for over $1 now due to inflation.
Dollar tree where everything is literally a dollar. There’s tons of them but don’t get them confused with dollar general because there it’s just regularly priced stuff but more affordable selections
Growing up in the 90s, I can remember $.99 stores in a lot of towns they weren’t branded they wasn’t like dollar tree or Dollar General. It was just a general $.99 store and some of these places were huge with the amount of stuff that they imported from China
Today even Dollar General charges more for a dollar so finding a $.99 store is pretty rare most of the places just continue to have the name but don’t actually sell everything for $.99 anymore.
When you go to Manhattan some areas like Chinatown have stores that have items for 123 even for five dollars, but generally everything is pretty cheap. That’s in the store.
Then you have stores like five below that are 90% items are five dollars or less and they have a small section for stuff that’s over five dollars.
Yeah, there’s a couple Dollar Trees near me.
Dollar tree, until recently everything was a dollar, went up to 1.25 with some things more expensive
I grew up in a tourist town and one of my favorite little curiosities that no longer exists in the 10¢ store. I’m in my late 20s, so this wasn’t that long ago. They sold things that you might need as you’re out and about- a single hair elastic, a pen, a tampon, a few pieces of gum. It was this little building that was like a toll booth. I think it must’ve closed in 2004 or 2005
I appreciate that New Zealand has Pre-trash stores too.
They are dollar stores here
I guess you’ve never heard of The Fortune 500 company, publicly traded, Dollar tree. Everything in there for years was a dollar and then it crept up to a $1.25. God only knows what havoc tariffs will wreak on their business model. It has a lot of junk in there but it’s great for some basic things and especially when it was all a dollar.
We used to call them Five and Dime stores back in the day.
We had $1 shops before the first Trump Term, they will now be $2 shops
there are dollar stores and there are five dollar stores and then clearance stores
Yes, we have “dollar stores.” These days the things they sell are under $1.25 or $1.5… Which is right around $2NZ.
Different than what you described, I would not say every economic class visits. I would say most middle class folks deem these to be below them. They are mostly patronized by lower class, working class, and lower middle class folks.