Dollar Tree

I have been here a few times to buy some odds and ends for $ 1. Most of the time the place looks stocked and decent but others shelves are empty and there is only one cashier to serve a line of customers. I am MOST annoyed by the one cashier also doing balloons for customer while a line of people wait. Have a self-​serve line!!! Otherwise, about what I expect from a dollar store.

I didn’t realize that there was a designated time when you can and can’t buy balloons. After waiting in line for 15 minutes because they only had 1 register open and a store full of people, we were told that they «weren’t doing balloons right now» because they had a long line of people that wanted to buy things. We’ll excuse TF outta me. I was purchasing other things as well.
This was my first and last time at this dirty, rude location.

Be careful of the downsizing of items… Check the ounces… the container make look the same but it may be downsized…

My wallet got stolen here. Someone distracted me by asking how much things cost … It’s the dollar store; duh, they cost a dollar. Then my wallet was gone. I asked the employees for help, and they refused to help me. I called the police to file a report, and the cashier refused to give me a pen an paper to write down the police report number. She made me wait until she was done ringing up a customer. I had my newborn baby with me. This was a really horrible experience. Cute stuff for a dollar isn’t worth it when you have to deal with sketchy criminal customers and horrible customer service. I will go back to Dollar Tree, but I will never go back to this location.

So the store is packed– with one checkout lane open– what do you do?
I grabbed a basket going up and down the aisles finding all kinds of cheap hilarity.
I actually came in with the goal of buying some stuff for work– bags of tootsie pops, yellow highlighters, a dustpan and broom… and promptly got distracted by boobs at checkout.
You heard me, I posted pictures as evidence… I said BOOBS.
Yes, you can buy inflatable inserts for your bra and boobs here.
No, I did not buy them.
I thought about it for a hot minute though but mostly in jest. I can barely handle what nature has bestowed on me– I don’t need to go around like a porn star with them obstructing my view.
I did peruse sunglasses. A lot of the Lincoln Square boutiques have cute sunglasses in the $ 10 – 12 range– and you can find the very same here– for a dollar. Polka Dots, flower print, neon or plain black cat-​eye and you won’t cry when you break or lose them (as I so often do).
What I bought: Dental Floss, Ponytail holders (20, the good kind without the metal pieces that rip out your hair), Secret Deodorant, hand soap, a combo nail file and buffer, Guilermo Del Toro’s ‘The Strain’ in hardback (beach, not airplane, reading!), Altoids… they even had, yes, Skinnygirl makeup. See the picture?
I did not even know there was such a thing.
I have tried the cocktail mixers (they don’t sell those here) and they are rather tasty.
This makeup will not make you skinny but will provide sun protection.
So I bought two– they come with a brush on the tube they apply smooth– sheerish coverage, very glossy, built-​in SPF and I don’t even look like a waxy, pulled and ‘toxed real housewife. Who’d’ve guessed? It looks natural and pretty!
Though I’m sure with the offerings at checkout, that whole «natural» bit can be remedied. Or pumped up. Ha.

This is a GREAT dollar store! Elementary Education teachers can have a field day in here: pencils, pens, notepads, stickers, snacks, etc. Great little finds for ANYONE else, too! Fantastic holiday and party decorations.

This dollar store has more useful products than the usual, but damn no antibacterial dish soap! The lovely cashier by the name of Amber seems to be the only one that actually works and helps people out earning this place the 5 stars.

I just bought 18 dollars worth of coloring books here, saw two old ladies have a shopping cart standoff to see who would flinch first, waited in line for 5 – 7 minutes and still love this place enough to give it five stars.

Dollar tree is promoting different verities of name brand product starting next week dollar tree will now carry 1.5 litters of coke cola products and Pepsi products currently they have Gatorade for one dollar and this location has a lot of it, then there’s Rockstar Energy drinks for one dollar, if you go anywhere else it’ll be a 2.75 pluses tax so you paid 3 dollars for something you could have bought cheaper, I work at this location as an assistant manager the store manager Pedro has changed a lot of things and one of those is our friend customer service, with that being said come on by p. s if you see me say hi:)

Well-​organized, clean, with super friendly cashiers.
I’ve only been to one other Dollar Tree store, but this one is far better. You can get things like different colored storage boxes, seasonal decorations, and my favorite, $ 1 boxes of movie candy!
I won’t be doing much of my shopping here, but when I undertake pantry organization, I may pop in here for storage boxes instead of forking over a lot more money at The Container Store.

Where do I begin? The Dollar Tree is the best store in Chicago. Need plates -$ 1 buck. Wash it down with Gatorade — $ 1 buck. Maybe you need a card for Mother’s Day — $ 1 buck. Did you run out of cleaning supplies? How about toys, Bugels, brooms, balloons, crappy candy, and a frozen food section? Yes, all of these things are sold in Dollar Tree. In case you forgot how much everything costs, it’s $ 1 dollar. Stop paying full prices for things that easily fall off trucks. Get your butt to this store and help grow my IRA fund. Once this place starts selling beer and wine like the 99Cents store in LA, it will bring down the house.

Since returning to graduate school, I have found many ways to save money. I thought I was frugal before, but Dollar Tree takes it to a new level. Here are some examples of things I have avoided buying in the past because I couldn’t justify the cost vs. need: microfiber cloths, cookie cooling racks, wooden spoons, plastic spatulas, apple corers, replacing my lost vegetable peeler, replacing my lost headphones for my ipod, vinyl place mats to put under my cats food bowls, a bamboo backscratcher. All of these things for a dollar each. I once saw a trixie in there buying 75 items for $ 75. I’ve also enjoyed hearing an elderly woman singing gospel music to herself (she had an amazing voice) and crazy people talking to themselves, and bachelors buying frozen dinners from the freezer case. It’s a slice of life.

Things that I have purchased at the Dollar Tree in the past week:
Bit O’ Honey
Fruity Loops
Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Ice Cream
Sponges
Frames (four of them)
Toilet Paper
Maxi Pads
Trash bags
Hair Curlers
Mesh laundry bags
Apple Juice
Raisinettes
Time spent in the store: Hours upon Hours…
I love Dollar Tree. Many times when I am bored at home (which is often) I will mosey on down to the local Dollar Tree. They have every single thing that I could possibly want (well no boys with beards but I have my fingers crossed). While I am a fan of going «green’ and using natural cleaning products and I do love Caldrea, I am a social worker that needs to pinch pennies… often. So off I go… getting things I don’t REALLY need, but always coming out happy.

Jack… I’m surprised I haven’t run into you here. This is the only place that I will buy wrapping paper and gift bags… and they actually look really nice. I shop here when I’m going to a party and I’m bringing a dish… I buy the actual dish here. That way I can leave the dish and host can save on clean up time, by just pitching it. I also only buy Hefty ziplock baggies, sponges and pool noodles here.
And no… I do not have a pool, but it’s a little trick I do for double hung windows when an air conditioner unit is in it. The styrofoam noodle can be cut to fit into the gap between the two windows (much better than a towel). OK… I’m getting off track.
But if you ever need an odd or an end… check the dollar tree. I recently bought a pack of light bulbs, a 2 pack of painting brushes, a 6 pack of painting sponges, large refill bottle of liquid SoftSoap, a 2 pack of «Magic Gloves» and pumpkin pie scented votives… all for $ 1 each. Yup, bill came to $ 6 and change.
You can’t beat it!

I keep forgetting to review this place, in spite of my weekly visits. I liked it when it was «Deals», but that went downhill when it strayed from the everything for a dollar concept. But, basically, whenever I think about buying something; food, hardware, office or paper goods, cleaning supplies, heatlh and beauty (did I say «beauty?») aids, I ask myself: «Do they have it for $ 1 at Deals?» Do I care that it fell off a truck on some Midwest Interstate? Nah! They even have some pharmaceuticals: aspirin, ointments, etc, for only one buck.
Thus do I find cookies, post-​it notes, screwdrivers, faux-​Pledge, shampoo and body wash, trail mix, and other stuff for just $ 1. May have to wait in line a bit (especially if you have the young mom in front of you with a full cart of 45 – 50 separate $ 1 items, and a need for helium party balloons!)
There IS one thing which cracks me up there: they have sale flyers. let’s see, how much is that? Oh, it’s $ 1, and so is everything else. I suppose it IS good to know what new products they have, or what just fell off the turnip truck.
But, oops, I gotta go now. I forgot. I have a few things on lay-​away there.

My boyfriend and I shop here almost weekly for things like cleaning supplies since money is limited and we had to get a vast number of items to clean with so that it could get rid of a major roach problem after discovering them coming from someone else’s apartment. They have some really good priced food and I saw they had fabric refresher which is what I use on the bed and to freshen the easy chair and sofa. Not only is it a dollar, but you can get the most of your money by spending less. With the way the economy is going many people are looking to save some serious money these days. There’s nothing wrong with shopping at the dollar store because you might find some useful items that are not expensive to buy. Although they have few name brands, but you can get pretty good deals on some things like shampoo and food.

Admittedly I’m a dollar tree fanatic. Unlike their competition Dollar tree has a tendency to not only have crap but also have useful items. Further more the knock offs they do have work (68% of the time).
But this dollar tree in particular takes the cake (and it’s knock off icing)…
not only are they large, not only does it have a huge parking lot… they also have a refrigerated and freezer section (ALL A DOLLAR OR LESS).
No shit– cheese, milk, soda, frozen dinners, frozen pizzas, hot dogs, sour cream, cream cheese, half and half, dinner rolls, etc… all a mother-​freaking dollar.
Can I get a hallelujah!!!

I don’t get to Lincoln Square very often for the following reasons:
1. It’s basically Wisconsin.
2. The only train out there stops running at 12:30 and, let’s face it, I’ll be too drunk to remember that 9 times out of 10.
Still, the occasional desire for bowling or maybe free booze at some Unilocal thing will force me to leave the safe, inviting Blue Line districts and venture to the ‘other’ Square.
It is during these infrequent but not entirely unpleasant instances I will take time out of my very busy drinking schedule to swing through the hidden wonders and mindbending deals at the Brown Line’s local Dollar Tree.
What kind of deals? How bent can a mind get?
Let me explain, my little sex puppets. You know when you go to Toys ‘R’ Us to buy a Skip-​It and some weed and you see those giant phallic pool foam cylinders? The ones you stick under your little balls and wave menacingly at strangers until someone tells you to knock it off?
THEY ARE ONLY A DOLLAR AT DOLLAR TREE.
Yeah, I know. It’s fucked up.
What about warming lube? That shit costs more than cocaine if you go to Target or The Leather Den. You want to know how much it costs at Dollar Tree?
A FUCKING DOLLAR! I SWEAR TO GOD!
Go on, throw something out there. See if they don’t have it.
… FOR A DOLLAR.
Sour Patch Kids? Dollar.
Bridesmaid shot-​glass necklace? Dollar.
Banquet meal? Dollar.
Imitation Liquid Plumr? Oh yeah, one dollar.
Noisemaking «Space Gun»? Dollar.
Little black baby doll? Dol-​lar.
100 little water ballons? ONE HUNDRED CENTS! That’s one dollar!
Sure, the Cry Baby gum might not have any sour stuff on it and the Razzles turned from candy to gum a year ago of their own volition but the lube gets kind of warm if you use A LOT OF IT (which, let’s be honest, you would anyhow) and toothpaste will still be toothpaste even if the bombs fall.
Dollar Tree is like, the dreams of Indians and the tears of a unicorn somehow made solid and beautiful. And a dollar.
And look at it this way: Even if the condoms you bought here don’t work that well, they were A DOLLAR and you can probably feed, clothe and entertain your child until it turns eighteen for under forty bucks if you just keep shopping here.
I was going to somehow work in «Holla Tree!» but even a dickhead like myself has some basic dignity.

Ok, so… Deals is no longer. I was a bit saddened by this recent development in the Lincoln Square ‘hood.
However, it’s been replaced by a Dollar Store, which frankly… is the same thing as Deals, but cheaper.
Bonuses: Super clean, big parking lot (for those trips to the d-​store where you find the need to stock up), friendly staff, well laid out. Oh, and clean. That’s pretty stellar for a dollar store… really.
I was up workin’ at the Dank Haus throwin’ some sort of party, and the Dollar Store saved my rear several times. Balloon weights? Sure, they even have red ones. PERFECT. Wine corkers? Yep. String and clips for the photobooth? YEP. Random trinkets, Diet Coke, batteries, cookies, basket for the raffle, wrapping paper, index cards and sharpies. YEAH, Dollar Store… for the win.
Yeah, so. I like cheap stuff. This place has it down to a science, so I dig it. Word.

This is one of the better Dollar stores around. Its huge and there are tons of deals for many categories. I was surprised at the food areas, they’ve got frozen foods and cereals and candy, etc And some of the stuff found is of popular brands.
I like coming for the seasonal stuff, great for parties and for kid events like birthdays and stuff for the swimming pool. There are tons of knick knack toy items which are great for stocking stuffers and goodie bags. They have clothing which I avoid. I made the mistake of introducing my Dad to the store. His first purchase was can’s of Pink Salmon (usually $ 5 can at a grocery store) and a pair of knee length khaki shorts for $ 6. He’s proud of those shorts cause they kinda resemble my Gap ones. Silly old guy.
Street parking can be tough, if you don’t get it on Western head around the corner on Lawrence.