Dollar Tree

As a young person, some of my worst days were when I needed to return items to the local dollar store. Without the refund, I wouldn't have enough to pay rent on my crappy Vancouver apartment that always smelled like other people's cooking. I was 17, finishing high school, working two jobs and taking care of my siblings every day, so there wasn't going to be more money unless I returned that spatula, tinfoil, sieve and box of band-aids. Five dollars make a huge difference when you're squeaking by.

It really sucks to return stuff to the dollar store. It's embarrassing. Lingering shame has probably kept me out of dollar stores since then, although I love grocery outlet stores, Goodwill and other discount shops. 

But here I am again.  

What I discovered? I've been paying way too much for hair elastics, plungers, balloons, school science-fair display boards, earplugs and Disney Princess tissues. Also for sale: an excellent selection of Halloween crafts, stickers and decor, along with candy, crackers, snacks, craft supplies, mylar balloons and a nice assortment of crossword puzzle books. 

Legerdemain has to be one of the best unintentionally ironic names ever given to a slightly-scented something in a bottle. Yes, I smelled a bottle. Maybe three. I think I may have worn one of these in high school, when I only aspired to being a Nice Lady and Hot Thrill, as I obviously am today.

 

But I wouldn't buy this at any price. A fine print notification suggests that you wash your teeth before using; this package obviously used to include the teeth but cost more than $1. Also, I have my very own nerd glasses. On my face, all the time.

For sale in the food aisle: "Chef Swagger's Kitchen Soup Mix with Real Chicken Broth" which sounds like it could be both a lot of fun and a bad decision. 

Sort of like these, which were pretty much the only food-like thing I would eat, as a kid: 

Then there was the Color Eazy hair color treatment, also for $1 (hair coloring usually costs around $7-12/box). I looked inside, and apparently the cost savings comes from not including conditioner and having god-knows-what as ingredients. I don't know what state a person's hair would be in after repeated use, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to find out. 

Above: the most egregious case of endcap pinkwashing I've ever seen. The pink items here say "Show you care...Be Aware!" then go on to state that "a portion of these proceeds will go to support breast cancer treatment, prevention and awareness." Not much else. Huh. 

It's easy to make fun of cheap, bad products, and worry that financially strapped communities are being taken advantage of with marginally safe items. It's also easy to make fun of rich people who pay more for stuff because it's stamped with words like "natural" and "organic" or has an on-trend print, priced ten times what it cost to make. 

But the real discomfort came at the checkout stand. To get cash back, I had to agree to a $1 fee.  

I've never seen a charge for cash back anywhere -- at standard grocery stores or anywhere you can get cash back after a purchase, there's no fee attached. But where shoppers are most cost-conscious, probably pressed for time and most likely to need quick cash, there's a fee. 

Oh, and Dollar Tree made US$599 million in profits in 2015. Huh. 

Legerdemain indeed. 

The Dollar Tree
Address: 7816 Aurora Ave N ·

The Purple Store

The Purple Store exterior

I've driven past The Purple Store for years now. I often wondered about the shop, but assumed that the store sold purplewear to Red Hat Society Ladies, and I'm not yet in that demographic. 

Recently, I discovered that The Purple Store sells all manner of brightly-colored purplery, including, but not limited to: 

• Purple duct tape

• Purple t-shirts

• Purple office chairs

• Purple K-state Christmas ornaments 

• Purple waste bags

• Purple luggage 

• Purple die for Dungeons and Dragons games

• Purple camo clothes 

• Purple Le Creuset kitchen stuff

• Everything you need to create an all-purple-accessory bathroom 

Rat-Cthulu dog toy, terrifying and mesmerizing

Most were in what might be called the royal purple or grape-purple hue. The incredibly nice clerk (wearing a purple sweatshirt) said sometimes they had trouble with ordering wholesale purple items, as it might look purple online or be described as "pearlescent" but ended up having not enough purple to really be called purple. It's a unique problem to face. 

Purple tees

According to a sign in The Purple Store, 8% of their e-mail list members have the word "purple" somewhere in their e-mail name. The shop's popular online retail marketplace offers additional purple items. I did a few searches, and it seems no other color can boast its own online and brick-and-mortar shop. 

So the owner's favorite color must be purple, right? Nope, blue. The owner happened upon the purle-store idea when he realized the enthusiasm of purple fans, the clerk told me. Appropriately, the shop's dedication to customer service includes special-ordering purple stuff for web or in-person shoppers. 

While I was there, a female shopper wearing a purple shirt blended right in, no camo necessary.

I asked if Red Hat Ladies did indeed shop here, and the clerk said indeed, they visited in small groups. 

Purple bags, trunks, camo and plush toys

Although black is my favorite color, I'm no anti-purple partisan, so I bought a teapot to replace our stained, broken and possibly lead-paint-colored yellow teapot. 

High-quality purple kitchenware

We were handed our purchase in a purple bag, with a purple receipt. If you're gonna go purple, you don't go halfway. You go full purple. 

If you want to visit The Purple Store, go soon -- it's slated for demolition to make way for condos and street-level retail. 

The Purple Store 
Address: 7616 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103
Web: https://www.thepurplestore.com/