Buck wild

LITTLE ROCK — Once upon a time, there was a chain of stores called Everything's a Dollar, where everything was a dollar, except for the things that were two for a dollar, or three for a dollar.

And whenever a customer who was a little unclear on the concept (or just being a smart aleck) would ask a staff member, "How much is this?" the entire staff would call out, as one, "Everything's a Dollar!"

Alas, there are no more Everything's a Dollar stores. The Milwaukee-based chain went bankrupt in the 1990s and has since faded from view.

That was just before America went through a big dollar-store boom. Now Dollar Tree, the nation's biggest dollar-store chain, which has adopted the motto "Where Everything's $1" - you can see it on the cash register receipts and the handles of the shopping carts - has outlets in shopping centers and malls in all 48 lower United States. The corporate headquarters is in Chesapeake, Va.

"I'll go into a dollar store with my mother, who's on a fixed income, and we'll find ourselves saying, 'Oh, this is only $1. We've got to get this," says Mary Ann Campbell, a Little Rock-based financial planner and money-management expert and teacher.

"I go because I enjoy the experience of the dollar store. They're easy to get into and get out of, because they're compact compared to the big-box stores. And there's usually one close by. I don't have to drive a long way to get there."

A cursory search of Dollar Tree's Web site, www.dollartree. com, where you have to search for stores by ZIP code, turned up:

In central Arkansas, four in Little Rock, two in North Little Rock and two in Conway

In Northwest Arkansas, three in Fayetteville, one in Springdale

In north central Arkansas, one in Harrison

In northeast Arkansas, two in Jonesboro, one in Paragould

In western Arkansas, two in Fort Smith and one in Van Buren

And in southern and southwest Arkansas, one each in Arkadelphia, Malvern, Texarkana and El Dorado.

"I know they have a limited variety," Campbell says, "but they have the basic necessities and an edited variety of popular items."

The category "dollar store" is a bit misleading. It includes stores like Dollar Tree, which charge $1 per item, and also stores like Big Lots, Dollar General, Family Dollar and Fred's, which are essentially inexpensive department stores, selling some items at $1 but other items at other prices.

All of these places selling merchandise for $1 or thereabouts are descendants, not necessarily linear, of the now-defunct five-and-dime store, Campbell explains.

As long as you're careful, she says, "I think it's a value. You have to be discerning, because it's easy to forget how it all adds up, even at a dollar.

"I know from my own experience you have to watch, because some dollar stores pack items that are imported that to me are of less value than $1. Then you go into a store like Dollar Tree or Big Lots that has overruns, things that they buy at a bargain. These items are often worth more than a dollar."

Yes, Campbell says, it's fun and exciting to cruise the aisles looking for bargains.

"But you also have to be careful because it's easy to get carried away. And you have to remember that it's not a bargain if you don't need it and you can't use it."

Campbell quotes a study from Retail Forward Inc., via the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, headquartered at Penn State University, that shows that while some consumers shop at dollar stores because the economy is tough and they need to save money, threefourths of dollar-store shoppers return simply because they enjoy the experience.

"In fact, the study found that more than one-third of ... shoppers even have household incomes of $50,000 or more," according to the institute's newsletter. "And more than one-fourth of dollar-store shoppers said their last trip was on impulse with no particular purchase in mind."

What are people shopping for? Roughly 45 percent of all dollarstore shoppers purchased household cleaning or paper products, 34 percent bought greeting cards and gift wrap or gift bags, followed bysnack foods (26 percent), candy and gum (24 percent) and homedecor items (24 percent), often buying items in multiple categories on a single trip.

ACTION AND REACTION

Meanwhile, big-box retailers and supermarkets have been pushing back.

Target, for example, now has a little area at the front of the store where it sells gew-gaws, fripperies and even useful items like hand tools and flashlights for a dollar.

Every week Kroger, as a marketing technique, offers items at 10 for $10, which, if you do a little math, comes to a dollar apiece.

"Supermarkets offering 10-for-$10 specials are definitely stealing the competitors' thunder," Campbell says. "They're trying to compete with the big-box stores, to be one-stop shopping [destinations] and pull you in. They're adding these $1 aisles and more general merchandise.

"Most people realize they don't have to buy the total number of 10unless they want to stock up; they can still get them at $1 apiece."

Dollar stores have started pushing back against that competition by building larger outlets - the newer Dollar Tree stores on Cantrell Road and West Markham Street in Little Rock are examples - and expanding their assortments.

BUCKING THE TREND

What can you get for a dollar?

At Cantrell Road Dollar Tree in Riverdale, we found $1 bags of pretzels, cans of nuts, plates, vases, toys, one-liter and twoliter sodas, bottled water, batteries and baskets. We purchased nail clippers in varying sizes, including one made in, or at least distributed from, North Little Rock.

We bought facial soap in packages of one (Pears Transparent, 4.4 ounces, hypoallergenic and noncomedogenic, which means it won't clog pores, not that it drives away comedians), two (Dial Gold, each 3.5 ounces) or three bars (Pure & Natural, 4.5 ounces each and "dermatologist tested").

There was a rack of DVDs, mostly animated Bible stories, old television shows and in some cases classic films with expired copyrights that have passed into the public domain (including Penny Serenade starring Cary Grant and The Snows of Kilimanjaro starring Gregory Peck). Surprise! According to the cashregister receipt, they were only 50 cents! For that price, if they don't play, you can use them for coasters.

Dollar Tree also sells namebrand hair-care (White Rain conditioner, and 33 percent more for $1 at that) and dental-care (Reach dental floss) products. Most of the home cleaning products are knockoffs and look-alikes, such as the "Mister Plumber" drain cleaner with a bottle that's a dead ringer for name brand Liquid Plumr. (Does it work as well? Whocares? It's just $1.)

Attention grabbers among the schlocky stuff in the $1 section of Target included 18-piece bags of plasticware in fall colors (orange, yellow, and a sort of purplebrown) and an "Original Plastic Slinky Jr. Walking Spring Toy!" (exclamation point included at no extra cost).

Among the recent 10 for $10 items at Kroger: Packaged candy (10 tiny Butterfingers bars per package, or a large-ish, movietheater-style box of Good & Plenty), Kleenex facial tissues (in the small 80-tissue pop-up box or the larger 180-tissue size) and even SoBe energy drinks (including Lizard Lava Strawberry Daiquiri flavor with a blend of aloe vera and vitamins).

And you can rent DVDs there from a vending machine for $1 a day.

EAT, DRINK AND BE FRUGAL

The dollar mania is not limited to retail outlets. The fast-food industry has also discovered its appeal.

At McDonalds, you can become a "Dollar Menunaire" (not to be confused in the least with Sole Meuniere, which you won't find on a Mc-Donalds menu, at any price, even in Paris) by ordering off their $1 menu. The menu differs depending on location, but among its universal items are a double cheeseburger, a Mc-Chicken sandwich, fries, softdrink, two pies, a sundae and Dasani bottled water, which corporate parent Coca-Cola not long ago admitted was filtered tap water.

Burger King recently added a spicy chicken sandwich to its $1 menu, which previously focused almost entirely on breakfast: three French Toast Sticks, Sausage Biscuit, small hash browns, Cini-minis (tiny cinnamon rolls), small coffee, eight ounces of white or chocolate milk, a 16-ounce soft drink, orange juice, plus, in some areas, the new "Hamlette" sandwich - ham, egg and melted American cheese, topped with honey butter on a sesame seed bun - and six Cheesy Tots, melted mozzarella and cheddar in a "golden, crispy potatocrust."

Buy a pizza at Little Caesars and for $1 you can get an order of three churros, "sticks with cake-like centers, surrounded by a crispy shell, then lightly rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Great as served or with our Chocolate or Dulce de Leche (caramel) dip," Little Caesars' Web site, www.littlecaesars.com, proudly proclaims.

Wendy's "undercuts" its competition with its Super Value Menu. No dollar stuff here - everything, including the chicken sandwich, yogurt with granola, five-piece Crispy Chicken Nuggets, Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, Jr. Cheeseburger Deluxe, small French fries, "Value Coca-Cola," small Original Chocolate Frosty, small chili, sour cream and chives potato, side salad and Caesar side salad - is 99 cents. Plus tax.

KFC offers Chicken Snackers, small chicken patties on small buns, for 99 cents.

Now that you're full, drop in at the Cinemark Tandy 10 off McCain Boulevard and U.S. 67/167 and see a $1 movie. Sure, they're mostly second-run, and likely to show up on DVD any day, but what do you want fora buck?

One thing you can't buy for a dollar is Dollar Tree common stock, which trades on the Nasdaq market under the ticker symbol DLTR. Its 52-week trading range is $29 to $45, and recently it was trading in the high $30s.