I stopped by this store after recently visiting the other 19th Ave store (by Christown Spectrum). This one is a vast step-up in that it's a little bigger and with no carpet, and better customer service. I was there yesterday evening and the cashier was Andrea, who even had on her Santa hat. She didn't know too much about the products in the store, but she was accompanying in locating exactly what I was looking for. I managed to find the Christmas villagers in the other store but not the village buildings i.e. house, post office, church- the typical Christmas village set. This type of set usually costs a fortune elsewhere but for this type of dollar stores, it's actually a buck each pack of either a few miniatures or one item. Anyway, this store carried neither the villages nor the entire set. I was glad to have found the villagers at the other store, which is what I actually want more than the buildings. I intended to use the villagers inside a snow globe or a shadow box and not to display on my Christmas tree skirt like the Nativity or trains. After checking around online, I learned that the Dollar Store releases a set per year, so it looks like I will look out for the buildings next year (and earlier, like before Thanksgiving perhaps?). I didn't know lots of people throng to the dollar stores for them, probably because they're cheaper but, they are good quality.
While they were out the village set (soldout online), I managed to score a mini snow globe with the Nativity inside. There was only one left(!) (It seems what I like, others like, too.) The kicker is that it has "rocks" behind the set indicating it's some house, which adds more to the appeal and making it worth a dollar. Elsewhere, it would've possible be about $10. It's sturdy and well-made (even accidentally dropped it onto my carpet while cleaning and it's fine). I also purchased 2 different boxes of Christmas candies (like Easter) for use to DIY/repurpose as shadow boxes, where I fill in miniatures and photos to display by my tree. No need to eat the yucky candies ;)
I appreciate good customer service but the store did need some cleaning and cleaning up. There were boxes of Christmas items inside on a dolly still not on the shelves, and there may have something in there that customers had wanted but weren't able to get into to retrieve something. So, that's not very smart business. I think Andrea was probably working alone that moment?? How sad for her. However, I may be back next Christmas to claim that village (that is, if I hadn't found it somewhere else) :)
Again, customer service still exists and is for EVERY business of any type. Brick-n-mortar & online, dollar store & upscale, right? No excuses! read more