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Years ago, I used to hit dollar stores all the time. It was my retail therapy. Later, I could afford to get what we needed from Amazon or Walmart, and a lot of dollar store stuff can be cheap knockoffs of low quality, so I stopped going. Given the current economic climate, I've found myself back at the Dollar Tree this past month. Here's a few lessons learned:
First off, Dollar Tree is a cut above. You're PROBABLY not getting knockoff Chinese lead poisoning toothpaste at this chain. You'll find recognizable brands at the store and most of the stuff that's one of their house brands is decent quality.
The name of the game here is shrinkflation: Kraft mayo, name brand, the real stuff, but the size is small enough you'd have to compare to your local grocer (I did not) in order to verify you aren't getting ripped off. Pharmaceuticals, vitamins, all these items tend to be a 30 day supply. You might get it the same or cheaper on a 90 day supply from Walmart, again you'd have to check. To be fair, I say it's shrinkflation, but you probably wouldn't get ripped off MUCH even if you didn't comparison shop. For example, I did check Dollar Tree Harmony brand paper towels against major retailers when I got home and Dollar Tree won on price handily.
So what did I end up buying?
- Wood Glue - $1.25 for 4 ounces. You can definitely get it cheaper if you have Amazon Prime and are willing to buy an entire gallon, but I wasn't, so $1.25 and a very convenient squeeze bottle was perfect for my needs.
- Insoles - They're just crummy foam, but they're padding and you really can't lose on these for $1.25, especially if you're squeezing them UNDER the insoles that came with your sneakers.
- Crocs / Clogs - Obviously not name brand Crocs, but for $5, these were surprisingly firm! And they had my very large size, which was great! Definitely worth the buy. Ended up buy clogs for the entire family in fact and a backup pair to keep in my car trunk. I'm not much of a clog person, but I bet these are great as slippers or emergency shoe change.
- Foam Shower Shoes - $1.25, can't complain. Does the job. Bought a pair.
- Flip Flops - Nothing expensive, but $5 with fabric strap, which is a lot better than $7 and straight vinyl at Walmart. Definitely bought a pair.
- Cleaning Paste - Funny colored clay they sell to scrub your sink and pots and pans. $1.25 was a great price for how long a container lasts.
- LA's all purpose cleaner - I bought some, now to see if it gets my shirts whiter. UPDATE: It did not get my shirts whiter. Might need to use more of it? Or maybe just not good for that use. It's not marketed for that, I'm just trying it out.
- Window Spray - Blue window spray or "vinegar" window spray. Bought the vinegar one, it seems fine, streak free, but it is mostly alcohol, not vinegar (which, is fine).
- Crew Socks - Got the gym the other week, no socks! Had to dig through the car trunk for ye olde socks. I can assure you Dollar Tree has ALL the socks you would ever need, most of them $1.25 a pair, some of them a dollar a pair. Tons of branded options with cartoons and stuff too. All looked like standard quality, didn't see any cut rate socks.
- "FormulaOne" Ceramic Finish for Cars - So Dollar Tree has some cheap spray washes and waxes for cars and they’re mostly silicone and consensus online is they’re probably harmless, but just kind of mediocre. On a budget with an oxidized car? Probably worth trying for the price! However, recently some Dollar Trees have had a ceramic spray for your car, that’s supposed to cover up scratches and oxidation. The interesting part is, it’s a product that costs $9-$11 elsewhere, but only $1.25 if you can catch it at Dollar Tree.
- Microfiber Cloths - Dollar Tree sells microfiber cloths in a few parts of the store, I bought the ones marketed for cars and they've been just fine. Good value.
- Car Wash - Car wash solution with wax mixed in. Good value, seems fine.
- Tire Spray / Vinyl Protectant - Its silicone based, the internet is divided on the use of silicone based rubber protectants on some parts of the car so make your own decisions, but yeah good value, seems like a good product.
- Humidity Absorber - How wrong can you go with a disposable $1.25 humidity absorber? I just bought one and put it in my sometimes smelly car, so lets find out!
- Solid Citrus Air Freshener - Hard to check 2 Dollar Trees for this. If your car has a weird smell, after febreze and airing it out and getting a humidity absorber, this hunk of petro-chemicals or whatever will eventually get the smell out of your car for months at a time, without leaving it smelling like a Sephora-industrial-accident site.
- Bungee Cords - Pack of I think 5, bought one for each car. There are better bungee cords, but, this will do for $1.25 apiece.
- Kids Toothpaste - They have kids’ toothpaste, it’s unfortunately not the dye free herbal stuff, but it does have fluoride and it is Crayola branded. Other Dollar Tree reviewers have noted you can sometimes find an expensive charcoal toothpaste and natural bamboo handled toothbrush at Dollar Tree, if that’s your jam.
Other Stuff I Didn't Buy (That's probably still a great deal!):
- Dinnerware - Dollar Tree is at this point known as the place to buy an entire DIY 16 piece set of matching dinnerware for literally $20 (and tax, alright you got me). I don’t even need to go into detail here because some many other people have, but suffice to say they’re right. One nice thing, though prints come and go seasonally, I’ve seen a design that looks like “Royal Norfolk Turquoise Swirl” multiple times over multiple years. So your odds of getting a close replacement later are higher: https://www.dollartree.com/royal-norfolk...c12/197606
- Glass Cheese Shaker - It’s $1.25 and just like the pizzeria, how can you beat that?
- Glass Sugar Dispenser - For a buck and a quarter, you too can play “diner” in your kitchen.
- Hot Wheels - Just a note that Dollar Tree has a lot of branded toys that are the real deal. They also sell Hot Wheel track by the segment, so you could probably set up something ridiculous for the kiddo in your life with very little effort.
- Footballs / Outdoor Toys - Hard to go wrong with a (generic) Nerf football. Speaking of, they have Nerf guns (generic) there too.
- White T-Shirts - Math, math, math. Apparently what apparel is carried can vary from Dollar Tree to Dollar Tree, but one of the ones I was at had Umbro brand 2 shirts, 4 for $5, so $1.25 per. That’s as good or better than Hanes multipacks from Walmart.
- Ratchet Set - It's a $5 ratchet set. I'll probably buy one at some point. It's not going to help you change a tire, but can't be too bad as a spare / backup to keep in the car for $5.
- Multi-head Screw Driver - For $1.25, yet another multi-head screwdriver will make a great addition to my car tool kits. The one I saw comes with a nice little case.
Didn’t Buy, Wouldn’t Buy
- Deodorant - Could not find a single unscented, vaguely natural offering in the store. Tres disappoint!
- Hair Conditioner - Again, every hair conditioner product was heavily scented and a lot of the products at Dollar Tree in general contain PET, so not great. Wouldn’t buy them.
- Shampoo - See conditioner.
Food Products - This is not completely accurate, I'd definitely buy a lot of the food products at Dollar Tree. I have not bought any food from Dollar Tree yet because I have to closely examine each product, check to see if its actually Frank's Red Hot (it is not, but the label is graphically identical, high level knockoff territory, possibly from the same company).I then have to check each product to see if the unit price is higher or lower than the grocery store. And finally, some food products are just of low or unknown quality. How big is the frozen pizza in the box? Red Baron sells 5 inch pizzas, is this that or a bigger one? Same with Tony's frozen pizza. There's a dearth of organic foods and of products sans meat or cheese. Not a single ramen-style product at either store I visited was vegetarian, which is kinda nuts.
What are your dollar store experiences? I'd love to hear them!
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