I rarely see these anymore. I guess Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Dollar General and even the super drug stores like Walgreen’s and Eckerd’s, have managed to obsolete the old-fashioned dime stores.
In my youth there were VJ Elmore, Kress, Woolworth, and I seem to remember at least one Kresge store. These all began being phased out by the 60’s or 70’s and it seems to have been all but completed by the 90’s.
How about your neck of the woods? Do you still have what folks would call a dime store?
Any that came and went in a fairly short period of time?
There were Zayre, Woolco, Spartan, and some others I’ve all but forgotten that just couldn’t compete with Wal-Mart and K-Mart. But they were more like department stores than dime stores.
They’ve all mostly disappeared in southern Ontario, too.
We had Woolworth’s way back. They were taken over by Woolco. My local Woolco (when I still lived in Toronto proper) was eventually taken over by Wal-Mart.
Kresge’s I remember from the 80s, but they disappeared.
We also had Bargain Harold’s and Bi-Way. Bargain Harold’s seemed to disappear in the early 90s. Bi-Way tried to undergo an image makeover in the latter part of the 90s but they too disappeared around the turn of the century.
I don’t know if it can be classified as a dime store as such, but the only one I can think of that might qualify and that’s still around is Giant Tiger. Those seem mostly to be located in the northeastern parts of Ontario.
There are some one-off types of places, mostly in strip malls, and mostly loaded with true junk that have names or slogans like “Everything’s $1.00” or “Just a Dollar” or something along those lines. But they’re not even trying to compete with the Wal-Mart array of everything from toothpaste to tires.
I can remember one Christmas buying everybody in my family (aunts and uncles, too) something from Elmore’s and the total ran less than $2. Of course all they got was like a handkerchief or a box of cough drops. But still.
These places that just have rows of opened boxes of stuff like detergent, cereal, canned goods, where they don’t even bother with stock clerks or individual pricing of items (they’re scannable of course) are popping up in this area, but they rarely have anything you’d go shopping for unless you’re just out for “bargains.” I saw one elderly couple with a handful of coupons and a shopping cart full of toilet paper, so I suppose these stores fill a need (or at least a perceived one).
Big Lots is another phenomenon around here. Damaged goods at a price. Something like Scratch and Dent outlets, but on really cheap stuff instead of appliances.
I’m trying to think what dime stores had that dollar stores don’t. Toys, toiletries, hardware, food items, dishes, towels…the only thing they’re missing is the fabled soda jerk, but the five and dime my grandma took me to as a kid didn’t have that.
Why do we think the answer isn’t “they’re still around, but we call them dollar stores now.”?
That’s what I’ve always thought, except for that period of time when I wasn’t sure Kresge and Kress were separate entities.
What with the arrival of extremely specialized stores like Batteries Plus, there’s little surprise that the “be everything to everybody” concept had to fizzle or wipe out the competition. Only Wal-Mart seems to have mastered the latter.
I keep waiting for The Bandaid Store to open. Or the Bic Pen Emporium.
You mean other than inflation? For me, the dollar stores mean “cheap” more than anything else (and usually in the quality sense) where the dime store just meant “available.” That’s just me, though.
And you’re right about the soda fountain. Those were just in drug stores back then. Rexall and such. Tile floors, metal chairs and tables and a strong smell of iodine or some other medicine.
We had a Morgan & Lindsey, Woolworth/Woolco, Gaylord’s, West Bros-Gibson, and a Howard’s Discount at various times in the town I grew up in or in the next town over.
Excellent question! Other than their names ( 5 & 10c store, variety store, dime store, and others I was hoping to get some feedback on here) it probably had more to do with the value of the items offered for sale. There were the obviously larger department stores in the bigger towns and cities that dime stores made no real effort to compete with. They also stayed pretty clear of the things you’d go to a grocery or a drug store to find. If there were hardware stores, as such, in the same town or area, you wouldn’t expect to find much more than bare essential hardware items there, either.
Stuff like school supplies, cosmetics, “notions” (whatever they were), cheap toys, candy, household items, stuff you’d expect to be able to buy for individual prices less than $20 or so.
Today’s dollar stores carry similar stuff, for sure. But they lack that “dime store” feel, at least to me.
I started this thread to try to get other people’s impressions of these very issues. It just struck me the other day that the “dime store” was a thing of the past and didn’t give it a lot more attention at the time. Just something to chat about, more than anything monumental.
That sounds to me just like Family Dollar. It’s not a dollar store where everything is a buck, although its name sounds like it. Rather they have overstocks or “fell off a truck” kind of deals on real merchandise, or slightly cheap, but not dollar store cheap, versions of things. Fruity Pebbles for $2, Kraft salad dressings for $1.50, or an Oneida flatware set for $20.
That virtual store tour has just enough resolution to make out some brands and prices, if you’re curious.
I know of one Ben Franklin store. That is about it.
This thread conjured up memories of SS Kresge with the wooden floors that creaked whan you walked across them and the smell of donuts frying… Mmmmm. Good memories.
There are some of those stores in this area, as well as others of that same type. The Big Lots store is the only one I have actually gone in trying to find something in particular. Didn’t find it either, but I have forgotten what I was hunting. Most of my shopping for that sort of stuff I can handle at the Kroger superstore when I’m grocery shopping. If Kroger doesn’t have it, most likely Lowe’s or Home Depot will be my next stop. Or maybe Walgreen’s.
It could easily be that I’m just not all that familiar with “dollar stores” and am nostalgic for stuff that’s still around. Also, the demise of the specific stores I mentioned in the OP was a curiosity point.
Ah, I missed this. “Notions” are the doodads you need to fix or finish a garment: buttons, patches, zippers, rick-rack, edging, etc. The notions section of a sewing store will also include things like needles, pins, needle threaders, oil for your sewing machine, gizmos for threading drawstrings through casings, etc. I’m not sure if these are strictly considered “notions” or not, but they’re all together, usually in the front of the store off to one side.
If you want a nostalgic yarn, I’ll be happy to share one about the old Goldblatt’s (I think that was the name?) my grandma used to take me to. It definitely had that funky smell, an I was given a dollar every time we went. This was late 70s, early 80’s, so it didn’t buy as much as it would have in my mother’s childhood, but I could still make out pretty well. My favorite items were the old fashioned stick candy, like candy canes without the bend. Those were 10 cents each, in at least 20 flavors, so I could get a few of those and still have money left over for a pack of stickers (lucky day if they were smelly or puffy!) or maybe a pack of Smith Bros. “cough” drops. They weren’t medicated at all, but they were the bestest chewy candy ever!
Every time we went, my grandmother would point out the area right in front of the store, under the awning. “There,” she said (every time, same words), “is where I left your mother in her buggy when she was a baby. Baby buggies were too big back then to take into the store with its narrow aisles, so we all left the babies outside to get some fresh air while we shopped.” :eek:
I sort of break down the “genres” of store like this:
Dollar store: Typically $1 (or multiples for $1), or cheap, usually foriegn stuff not generally found in more traditional stores. Brand name items are often trial size, discontinued our out of fashion items. Most of the rest is off-brand or cheap brand-name stuff.
Examples: Everything For A Dollar Store (EFADS), Dollarama, etc.
Department store: Very mainstream, competitive in the market, pretty standard fare with a bit of everything. Brand names and stock remains pretty constant.
Examples: K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Zellers, Sears, The Bay
Bargain Shops: Deals mostly with discontinued, closeout, new-old-stock, and overstock buyouts both brand and off-brand names.
Examples: XS Cargo, Crazy Dave’s, Big Lots
Dime Stores: Fairly mainstream but tended to be located closer to residential areas, catering to families and tending to have lower prices and cheaper merchandise. They tended to have a similar variety of stuff as department stores but usually the cheaper brands and also tended to carry a lot of cheap impulse items.
Examples: Bi-Way, Bargain Harold’s, Woolco/Woolworth, Kresge, Giant Tiger.
I have noticed a slight resurgence in certain areas though. One recent entry into what could be considered the dime store market (in Toronto anyway) is Walia. It’s an Indian-run chain and seems to cater to that market. They’re very much like the dime stores mentioned above, though there seems only to be a few stores around so far.
Nice trip down memory lane, too. Luden’s cough drops, too. And these days the only place to find that stick candy on a regular basis is Cracker Barrel.
I wonder if stores like Alco and Pamida in rural Midwestern towns can be called dime stores. The ones I’ve visited seem a lot like a cross between a Woolworth’s and Wal-Mart, but they’re small, topping out at about 20,000 square feet.
