LITTLE ROCK — WHAT: $1 Jewelry Galore
WHERE: 9100 Rodney Parham Road (Ashley Square Shopping Center), Little Rock, (501) 224-0515. Other stores are located in Fayetteville, Springdale, Van Buren and Fort Smith. A new North Little Rock location is scheduled to open in the Lakewood Village Shopping Center on Saturday.
WHEN: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Sunday
IN STORE: We love dollar stores. And we love jewelry stores. But a dollar jewelry store? How good could something like that be, we wondered when we heard such a thing opened between two of Little Rock's other bargain emporiums, TJ Maxx and Puff's Wearhouse.
Quite good, we discovered, $18 and several pieces of jewelry, headbands and pairs of sunglasses later.
At $1 Jewelry Galore (full name: Designer Discount Company $1 Jewelry Galore, but only the last part appears on the sign), all the jewelry, which lines a full wall and several additional displays, costs $1, whether it's a pair of earrings, a long strand of beads, a bracelet or even afull coordinating earringsand-necklace set. Yes, $1!
And while admittedly some items look like they cost $1 (like maybe those big hoop earrings that say "Sexy" in the middle or the big round fabric cheetah earrings that look more like something one would put a drink on than put on her body), most items don't. Much of the inventory is quite fashionable and would fit right in among costume jewelry displays of pricier stores, it just happens to cost a lot less.
Another $1 option at $1 Jewelry Galore is headbands - all colors, fabrics and styles. Butif you like any of the shades, those are going to cost you $5 ... still a bargain when you consider that the oversized tortoise sunglasses we spotted look just like Gucci ones (minus the logo, of course) sold at Saks Fifth Avenue for about 60 times the price. Another pair of stylish black sunglasses had little silver "D" initials on them ... maybe one could fool people into thinking the "D" stands for Dior, not Designer Discount Company.
SUCH A BARGAIN: The store name says it all. $1. Jewelry. Galore.
WHAT AN INDULGENCE: A small selection ofshoes (but, alas, none were in our size) like the fun polka-dot sandals and cute croco-accent mules are $20.
SERVICE WITH A SMILE: We couldn't help but feel brushed off by the counter employee who announced it was not her day to work the register - this after she either didn't hear us or ignored our repeated hellos as she looked out the window. But the staff member who did ring us up was perfectly pleasant and urged us to come back soon, as the store gets new inventory often.
Shopping tips? E-mail: jchristman@arkansasonline.com
Weekend, Pages 91 on 04/06/2007