A lot has changed over the past few years--shoppingwise--in the western Hilltop. Target went bye-bye, and the satellite specialty stores near it are in decline, at best. Of course, across Wilson Rd, Great Western became a ghost world a long time ago. And, the Sears closing at Westland marked the official end of its existence. RIP. What's left standing, and alive, is the shopping strip from Kroger to the pet store on Soldano. So, it gets busy sometimes, particularly on weekends.
The local Dollar Tree stores that used to be Deal$ have been undergoing a significant transition since the takeover. The quality of the merchandise has improved, the number of lines carried has tightened up, and they're not as "junky" as they used to be (nothing could be as junky as Dollar Tree-owned Family Dollar, except maybe competitor Dollar General, both of which are under pressure). I was pleasantly surprised that the Everything's A $1 (another Dollar Tree takeover) theme of Deal$ remained after the name change. My much-labored point is that the stores with a green Dollar Tree logo on the building are getting better. The one on Soldano is no exception. With that comes increased business.
But, with cartloads overflowing with $1 stuff, it takes forever to check out. Of course it does. Think grocery store during Thanksgiving week, except it's every day at Dollar Tree...again, especially on weekends. If you're in a hurry, you should have been there yesterday. The Dollar Tree on Hilliard-Rome Rd (when are they going to bite the bullet and drop the 'Rome' part?) is faster. Its employees have been there forever or longer, and there's more of them. I think that, in time, the Soldano location's speed will improve, but it will never be whiz-bang.
Maybe there's some folks out there that'd be willing to volunteer to handle the party balloons on weekends? That would sure help.
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