I know someone that loves them all

Dollar tree sucks so much has a whole bunch of stuff for 1.25 you can get at your local grocery store for either 99 or a straight buck.

This is a completely valid opinion, though. The products in Japanese dollar stores (in the US) are of significantly higher quality than those in dollar tree/etc.

This is how all of these stores make margin. Some higher priced items are marked down, and people come in regularly to buy them because they're cheaper than everywhere else. All of the lower priced items are marked up.

That's because the Japanese dollar stores sell goods designed and made in Japan and the American dollar stores sell goods made and designed in China.

Or they sell you a smaller quantity for the amount desired, you pay more / item and receive less but pay less overall for the “item”

Like a smaller box of laundry detergent or a smaller-than-normal-sized snickers.

The selection of items aren't even the same.

+1 for daiso

But have you ever been in a Daiso?

Not always a bad thing tbh. If you want a big variety of candy for the movie theater later (with permission to bring it inside definitely totally 100%), it's way better than any store at getting you a wide selection.

Sometimes I'm willing to pay more per oz if it means getting a bigger variety, over a better price per oz of just one brand.

Dollar stores in Japan are a whole WORLD away. Literally. And metaphorically. Daiso takes Dollar General out back and beats it with a willow switch until it cries.

A Lawsons or or a 711 in Japan has a staggering selection of ready made food, shipped in a few times daily. They have cheap booze and they provide both ramen and free hot water.

Made in Japan? I was in a daiso in Japan this year. Bro, most of shit is made in China.

Quality is still better than western dollar stores yes, because it's designed in Japan, but it's made in China for the most part.

I live in Hawai’i and we have both Daiso and Japan style 7-Eleven. Food is excellent there.

It’s me. I’m someone.

Rawhide Kobiyashi is gonna be so disappointed

I spent a chunk of my childhood in rural America and loved the dollar tree. So much junk I could afford with the money I stole from my dad's wallet.

Moved to Australia as a teen and it still angers me to this day, 20 years later, that the dollar store here is more of a suggestion. Couldn't find one thing under $5 in there despite being called the dollar store.

This guy hasn't been to a Don Quijote, that shit's a liminal space

In the US, Dollar Tree is the only one adhering to the dollar store principal, now at 1.50, (giving you a real measure of inflation, that in 10 years it went from 1 to 1.5,) while the rest charge much more for everything, being no different in price and quality from kmart or target, if not more expensive.

Dollar tree is the only one left in the US, where I'm at, that still adheres to the principle, charging 1.50 now per item excepting the 5 dollar aisle. The rest are what you describe in Australia.

Those goods in US stores were all designed in the US originally, and made in China. Now maybe they tweak the design, but they didn't come up with it, wall street gave them all of our tech to save a buck on labour and environmental, and not have to mess around with any of those pesky democratic norms.

The dollar store sales are often the defectively designed products, as are all the manufactured goods for that matter, the redesigns are to save money on materials. Less of this, cheaper of that, to the point it breaks and then you buy the same product so many times it cost more than if they still built quality for more money.

It depends on the products. Some are made domestically, but it really depends.

Daiso is the S-tier of these. I wish they had them in Europe.

It's cool but definitely not cheaper than other stores. Their bottles of Hibiki 30 for example cost several thousand yen more than some of the fancy liquor stores around Asakusa.