Dollar Crazy

Every neighborhood on Long Island has one. Some towns have one in every shopping center. Dollar stores. They have many names. Dollar Tree, Dollar Daze, Dollar General. Some stores want to go one step further and call themselves 99 cent stores. You have to be a careful shopper in those, because they are usually 99cents and up. You can find just about anything in these stores, for only a dollar. I mean everything. From shampoo to steak. The quality on some of these items are great and on others, not so great. If you shop in these stores enough you know what to buy. When I was a child there was a store that was the predecessor of the dollar stores. It was called John's Bargain Store. When you walked into the store, you could smell the bargains. Literally, since most of them were made with plastic. The store was full of large bins and everything was thrown into them. Clothes, slippers, hair brushes. You name it, John's had it. While everyone shopped there, no one said they did. Bargains were not things to be proud of in those days. As prices are rising, shopping for bargains is more in fashion.