How have I gone this long without reviewing Dollar Tree? *tsk tsk*
One of the first people who befriended me when I moved back home to Philly introduced me to this store. My friend grew up in Manayunk and from what she told me, shared many pleasant outings here with her late mother, who had been rapidly sliding into dementia. As I said before, I am not a snob and if a place can offer me pleasure, a good meal and/or a brief respite from the cares of the world, be it high end or low end, no matter. I'm all for it!
My late friend Dee (she died suddenly several years ago) and I got into a Dollar Tree routine. She worked at the airport and had Fridays off. She would get a wake up call from me and knowing what a slugabed she was, I'd then shower, have breakfast, do some reading then call her again to roust her out of the house. She'd swing by to pick me up and we'd head into Roxborough for some Dollar Tree fun.
Dee never had a high or even decent paying job but she knew how to enjoy life to the fullest on even an extremely modest income and she found joy in things that many jaded people would not even look at or think about twice. We would grab our carts, knowing from past experiences that a basket would get full too quickly, rapidly peruse the aisles together, commenting on what was new or recommending something that the other had not yet tried, then we would split up and shop on our own.
I adore Dollar Tree for seasonal things, wash day miracles and paper products as well as cosmetic items, toiletries and snacks. Some items were close outs, odd lots, sample sizes and others were-well, for lack of a better description-WTF products that one just had to bring home for a dollar.
The store itself is nothing special. A few people commented on the rug in their reviews. Who goes to a dollar store and cares about their flooring?! This particular store is clean, has a not unpleasant restroom and I have never gotten botulism or any other illness from food purchased here.
After about an hour of intense browsing and filling our carts, we would run into each other, check to verify if we'd found all we needed or insist that one or the other of us HAD TO go and get that one dollar glitter nail polish, callus eradicator, dancing elephant dish towel, silly slogan coffee mug, glow in the dark Halloween wreath or citrus scented bleach. I still have holiday wreaths purchased there 5 years ago that are going strong and may Ben Franklin himself strike me with lightning if I ever pay more than $1 for paper towels or kitchen sponges elsewhere. I have purchased stocking stuffers here, distracting toys for friend's kids that made outings way more bearable and little 'filler' items for gift baskets. Shop here with an open mind, not an agenda.
Since Dee always drove, I would find a few $1 treasures and present them to her when we got to the parking lot, then I'd treat her to a special lunch somewhere she would never go on her own. All basic fun that is often the most elusive to capture if you are working too hard to find it.
Every weekly visit was a few hours of relaxation, simple surprises and almost childish glee of getting something for just a dollar. For Dee and me, Dollar Tree was about being in the moment.
The check out people are regular people. Low paid retail workers. Some clearly hate their jobs and probably their lives in general, others seem to be chatty senior citizens working to supplement their income and get out of the house. There are the ladies who would ohhh and ahhh over some of my fabric flower purchases, asking what I planned to do with them and there are college kids, working part time, stoned and bored, who were more than happy to share my silly joy over finding what I thought was a long discontinued snack that I had enjoyed in middle school. The plastic bags are awful and seem to fall apart just as you are moving them from the cart to the trunk of the car, but that (to me) is part of the absurd Dollar Tree charm.
There is nothing cool, retro, trendy or Instagram worthy about Dollar Tree and the absence of those things make me love it dearly. It's scrappy, blue collar Philadelphia at its most honest, most basic, most real and best-AND everything is only a dollar. : ) read more