The Buck Stops Here

This is the first of two blog posts on The Dollar Tree, a discount variety store that plans to open in my town, suburban Moraga, CA. This first article takes you inside a Dollar Tree store. The next post will examine the Fortune 500 company behind The Dollar Tree empire.

The Dollar Tree in Pleasant Hill, CA

 I must confess that until a few weeks ago, I’d never heard of The Dollar Tree, a discount variety store where every item costs $1 or less. Sure, I’d been inside a few dollar stores in my life, but not The Dollar Tree. Somehow I’d missed this particular discount retailer—#1 in its category—a Fortune 500 firm with 3,800 stores in 48 states, including California, and $5.2 billion in revenues in 2009.

 I guess that’s like missing Godzilla as he stomps down Main Street. But somehow The Dollar Tree had never branched out to places I shop. Until now.

 A few weeks ago it was announced The Dollar Tree plans to lease vacant space in one of the two strip malls in Moraga, my little upscale (though now apparently downwardly mobile) suburb. That same strip mall is already home to Tuesday Morning, TJ Maxx and HomeGoods, three low-end stores that sell a depressing array of discount gift items, clothing, furnishings and other household goods.

 Moraga is small—16,000 people—and a bit off the beaten track, so we’ve never had much success with retail. With The Dollar Tree poised to join our dazzling array of low-brow retail, I thought I’d better visit one before I shared my two cents about it. I found a Dollar Tree store in the nearby city of Pleasant Hill. (Stop hiding from me, Godzilla!). Here’s my take:

 Technicolor Daydream

When you walk in, The Dollar Tree bursts with color. Shiny helium-filled booms rise above the aisles. Plastic containers, cups and bowls catch your eye in every color of the rainbow (pretty, petroleum-based plastics!). Cleaning products—mostly off-brands I’d never heard of—shout “take me home” in brightly colored plastic bottles. A massive wall of fall seasonal items exudes orange.

 Everywhere you look: Many items, many colors.

 Up Close, a Horse of a Different Color

On closer inspection, The Dollar Tree shelves are basic, holding items that hover between junk, bargain, likely-to-break, flea market and bizarre. About 40 percent of the chain’s merchandise is imported, mostly from China. Patience is required. Aisles are narrow. Some are impassable—you have to wait until “associates” (can you say Wal-Mart?) empty and move stacks of cardboard boxes filled with stuff—lots and lots of stuff.

 The Stuff

The typical Dollar Tree store carries 6,000 items. I didn’t count, but I believe it. I saw party supplies, cleaning supplies, health and beauty aids, housewares, toys, books, food, drinks, seasonal merchandise, back-to-school items, candy, trading cards, greeting cards, sunglasses, a pile of t-shirts, dog and cat snacks, compact fluorescent lightbulbs, picture frames, car air freshener, small paint brushes, St. Jude prayer cards and Jesus incense. Holy Moses!

Fishing for Dollar Tree bargains: Mermaids and a 2006 dictionary

 The Shopper

In Pleasant Hill’s Dollar Tree, shoppers included older women, younger moms with kids, a few men, a number of Hispanics and more than a few people with visible tattoos. It’s not a stretch to say many looked like they had to shop there for economic reasons. They weren’t wealthy shoppers on some cute little bargain hunt. In fact, nationally, 75 percent of Dollar Tree stores accept food stamps.

I point this out because Moraga residents are mostly affluent and white, along with a small percentage of Asians, college students and a few people with visible tattoos:). It struck me as surprising that The Dollar Tree believes its model can work in both Pleasanton and Moraga–two very different communities. Perhaps we’re all united in our desire for a bargain–real or perceived.

The Risk

Some Dollar Tree items come with a special bonus—lead, cadmium, the danger of starting on fire or the potential for cutting you. I’ll be sharing more about that in my next post. A few items in the Pleasant Hill store put me on edge.

 A package of dog “munchy chews” said it contained “artificial chicken flavor sticks.” Yummy, Fido. The chews were either made from rawhide and tapioca flour (printed on the package) or beef hide, amylum, artificial flavors, Yellow #5 and Yellow #6 (printed on a sticker affixed to the package). I guess we get to choose. The package front also said the chews were “Treated by Irradiation.” That should bring a real glow to Fido’s fur.

 If munchy chews’ packaging shared too much, a plastic spray bottle of “Ultra Oxygen Magic Foam” restored balance. It listed NO ingredients whatsoever. The label simply said it’s a “powerful oxygen powered foam cleaner” that “leaves hard surfaces sparkling clean and smelling fresh.” It did note that I should keep Magic Foam away from my eyes, off my skin and out of my gullet. Dashed were my dreams of a Magic Foam bath and cocktail.

Irradiated doggy chew sticks from China--aarf, aarf!

Must be "magic" because the ingredients are a mystery

Food, Glorious Food

“Don’t miss our frozen food section,” said the voice over the loudspeaker, “where we have frozen Tyson chicken, ice cream and much, much more. Have a nice day.”

 Frozen, canned, packaged and refrigerated. However you want your food, The Dollar Tree has it. I saw popcorn, chips, salsa, canned tuna, canned vegetables, honey, jam, crackers, cookies, juices, candy, cheese, butter, soy milk, a few fresh fruits and vegetables, and frozen tacos—all for a buck each.

Some are recognizable brands—Red Vines, canned vegetables from Libby’s and Green Giant, and SpaghettiOs from Campbell’s. But many were mysteries to me, such as soda in 101.4-oz. bottles by Stars & Stripes and various canned beans by La Sierra, the self-proclaimed “best selling brand in Mexico.” Says so right on the can.

 If salt or allergies trouble you, take a careful look before you buy food at The Dollar Tree. A 15-oz. can of beef stew by Hartford House (who?) contains MSG and 1,120 mg of sodium per serving, or about half the total sodium intake USDA officials recommend per day. At least you have time to think about whether you should eat it—the can I looked at had a “Best By” date of June 17, 2013.

A day's worth of sodium--and still two lollipops for later

 ‘Tis the Season

The Dollar Tree knows fall and Halloween are just around the corner (Help us make your holiday cheap and plastic?), which must explain the huge wall to the left of the entrance lined with little plastic pumpkins, wreaths, gords, and other “decorative” items—all in orange, green, brown and red.

 An elderly woman picked out a scraggly little strand of plastic leaves that she said she planned to hang on the front of her apartment door as a wreath. She told me neighborhood kids had stolen a bigger, natural wreath she’d had on the door previously. It was pretty clear to me nobody would steal her latest purchase.

This fall display will last and last and last

 Workers’ Rights

The Dollar Tree parent company has a less than stellar record with its employees (more in my next post). I got a taste of that in Pleasant Hill. As I browsed the greeting cards near the manager’s office, I heard a testy speakerphone conversation. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop—the speakerphone sound carried:

 Pleasant Hill (regional?) manager to presumably another Dollar Tree manager: “That means she’s taking longer than her 10 minutes and we’re not stupid. That’s why your team ain’t getting nothin’ done.”

 Then Pleasant Hill manager to the purported slacker employee: “(Name), do you have a problem clocking in from breaks? It looks like your break might be longer than 10 minutes. (Pause) You don’t have to be snippy. I’m just asking.”

 A Penny for My Thoughts

As you may have guessed, The Dollar Tree isn’t for me. I’m not a cheap, junk, don’t need it, imported, sometimes toxic-unhealthy-recalled, likely-to-break, petroleum-based plastic, treat-your-workers-badly, goods-purchasing kind of guy.

I realize some people have to shop at places like The Dollar Tree. That the company employs 54,000 people. That in some cases it sells items that might otherwise end up in landfills—or worse. That workers who make and transport those items have jobs at other companies. And that The Dollar Tree will bring needed sales tax revenues to Moraga.

 But it also saddens me. Low-income people shouldn’t have to buy goods that may be dangerous or deadly. Upscale bargain hunters shouldn’t either. Unhealthy food and drinks shouldn’t be unloaded for a dollar. Products shouldn’t pollute the planet through their manufacture and distribution. Nor should they be made and sold by poorly paid, poorly treated workers. And sales tax money isn’t everything—not if it comes from businesses that make you feel cheap inside.

 If I were King, there’d be no Dollar Tree stores. Alas, I’m not King or even distantly related to a Count. In all likelihood, Moraga will get The Dollar Tree (one town hearing remains).

 I won’t shop there. On that you can bet your bottom dollar.