A non-UL approved electrical item?
Out-of-date snacks?
Slightly irregular socks
Slightly irregular children’s underwear
Food products with brand names you’ve never heard of
Emery boards
Actually went into the one by the grocery store tonight – nope, nothing rang a bell. I actually left without buying anything. Not even mint chocolate chip hard candy, which is my current favorite sugar fix.
This is starting to bother me.
It was the jumbo shoe horn.
Or possibly the bamboo backscratcher.
Has to be something for gifts. Like a bag, paper, bows, tape or a card. That’s usually the reason I give for shopping there anyway.
Best damn $1.00 I ever spent!
Back-scratching blis. 
That’s not it – I already have one at home and one at work. I loooooooooves my backscratchers.
Change?
Perhaps you were thinking ahead? Some of the dusty Christmas decorations that they leave out waaay at the back of the store?
toliet paper. You’re going to wish you had remembered when you are carefully trying to salvage that glued-on last square. 
Out of date toothpaste not made in this country and not exactly up to specifications the FDA has permitted?
“It’s a Boy!” bag?
Sunglasses?
Pet toy?
Easter crap?
One of the apostles?
No one’s mentioned anything in the tool section yet. How about:
–A putty knife two-pack.
–A set of five neon green bungee cords.
–50 neon green and neon pink zip ties.
–A roll of electrical tape that will peel off and leave sticky goo on wherever you use it.
–One of those little hammers that has the interchangable screw driver heads in the handle.
–Sandpaper in your choice of grits.
–Hacksaw blades with a poorly translated warning imploring you to use them properly.
–Cheesy plastic switchplates with decals of red and white polka-dotted mushrooms.
Yes? No?
Considering what you do for a living, I’m guessing you were planning to check out the lower rungs of your competition by buying one of those books full of crossword puzzles that take about five minutes each to solve and display no variety or imagination in the clues. IRAN is always defined as “Persia today”, UTA as “Actress Hagen”, etc.
Or, going with the food theme advanced by others, one of those off-off-off-brand fruitcakes or tins of “Authentic Danish Butter Cookies”.
An egg flipper, a birthday card, and a pack of light bulbs.
(I actually had someone ask me what you could get at a dollar store. This might be close to the list I came up with then.)
A laser pointer? A cap gun? A set of colourful plastic sponges? One of these, or perhaps these? How about a pack of 4 coin-sized batteries for your car remote or toy game that won’t last as long as the 4.99 one you buy at Radio Shack but hey, you’ve got 3 more. And it was a dollar!
Nanoda – seriously funny stuff, thanks for the links.
Sternvogel – I already know way more than I want to about how the puzzle books get to the dollar store. Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.
Plastic forks?
Plastic spoons?
Jesus candles.
You can’t have too many.
Pie?
An 8-pack of combs?
A refrigerator magnet that looks like a banana?
Traction stickers for your shower floor?