A Dollar Store Christmas
Everyone should, at least once, spend some time in a dollar store the day before Christmas. These establishments are perhaps the only places left where in inflationary times, ten dollars will get you two plastic shopping bags full of merchandise.
Dollar stores make no excuse for a delightful, almost unamerican, disorderliness. There’s stuff spilling from shelves onto the floor, and items that have somehow migrated from one area of the store to another. This morning, an open box of Tampax nestled next to a six-pack of Jarritos tamarind juice. There’s a story there, I know. In the freezer section next to the $1.25 beef-flavored burritos, I found a pair of large foam dice, the kind people used to hang from their rear-view mirror. There was a bamboo backscratcher next to the generic aspirin.
There’s probably not a single food item there that is good for you. There are three—count ‘em—aisles of snacks and candy poetically placed next to the aisle with digestive aids. There are hundreds of disposable items, plates, cups, aluminum baking pans, paper products. And there’s a plethora of unknown brands of canned vegetables and legumes including 15 different types of beans and 18 varieties of tomato products.
The customers are all-American, that is to say every nuance of skin tones, eye shapes, and accents. They are serious shoppers who inspect every purchase carefully. They are also demanding. One lady in front of me at check-out held up the cahier’s line for ten minutes because she wanted to return an open item, a store no-no. She didn’t get her way and angrily steamed off in her red Tesla.
Am0ong the largest chain of these stores is Dollar General. According to the company’s website, “The first Dollar General store opened in Springfield, Ky. on June 1, 1955, and the concept was simple – no item in the store would cost more than one dollar. The idea became a huge success and other stores owned by J.L. Turner and his son Cal Turner Sr. were quickly converted. By 1957, annual sales of Dollar General’s 29 stores were $5 million.
“J.L. passed away in 1964. Four years later, the company he co-founded went public as Dollar General Corporation, posting annual sales of more than $40 million and net income in excess of $1.5 million. In 1977, Cal Turner Jr., who joined the company in 1965 as the third generation Turner, succeeded his father as president of Dollar General.
“Today, the company remains true to the humble ethic of hard work and friendly customer service embodied by the founding family.”
The stores are bigger than ever and found in the best of neighborhoods. Most are now a dollar-twenty-five stores. No matter. The extra quarter doesn’t seem to have at all dampened buyer enthusiasm.
Dollar stores make no excuse for a delightful, almost unamerican, disorderliness. There’s stuff spilling from shelves onto the floor, and items that have somehow migrated from one area of the store to another. This morning, an open box of Tampax nestled next to a six-pack of Jarritos tamarind juice. There’s a story there, I know. In the freezer section next to the $1.25 beef-flavored burritos, I found a pair of large foam dice, the kind people used to hang from their rear-view mirror. There was a bamboo backscratcher next to the generic aspirin.
There’s probably not a single food item there that is good for you. There are three—count ‘em—aisles of snacks and candy poetically placed next to the aisle with digestive aids. There are hundreds of disposable items, plates, cups, aluminum baking pans, paper products. And there’s a plethora of unknown brands of canned vegetables and legumes including 15 different types of beans and 18 varieties of tomato products.
The customers are all-American, that is to say every nuance of skin tones, eye shapes, and accents. They are serious shoppers who inspect every purchase carefully. They are also demanding. One lady in front of me at check-out held up the cahier’s line for ten minutes because she wanted to return an open item, a store no-no. She didn’t get her way and angrily steamed off in her red Tesla.
Am0ong the largest chain of these stores is Dollar General. According to the company’s website, “The first Dollar General store opened in Springfield, Ky. on June 1, 1955, and the concept was simple – no item in the store would cost more than one dollar. The idea became a huge success and other stores owned by J.L. Turner and his son Cal Turner Sr. were quickly converted. By 1957, annual sales of Dollar General’s 29 stores were $5 million.
“J.L. passed away in 1964. Four years later, the company he co-founded went public as Dollar General Corporation, posting annual sales of more than $40 million and net income in excess of $1.5 million. In 1977, Cal Turner Jr., who joined the company in 1965 as the third generation Turner, succeeded his father as president of Dollar General.
“Today, the company remains true to the humble ethic of hard work and friendly customer service embodied by the founding family.”
The stores are bigger than ever and found in the best of neighborhoods. Most are now a dollar-twenty-five stores. No matter. The extra quarter doesn’t seem to have at all dampened buyer enthusiasm.
No comments have been added yet.
