Food?

So, the response to my 99 cent store question has been excellent. You can read the comments and see for yourself. A lot of people emailed, also, and many of them said the same thing: no food, no toys for kids, nothing from China, no personal care products.

I have bought all kinds of stuff at the 99 cent store, like toothpaste (name brand only) and I did experiment with food, too, but I was scared off by exploding cans, etc. Another time I bought something that I thought was olive oil because it said both olive and oil on the bottle (though perhaps not in that order.) Later I read the fine print which said something about how it wasn't food, ie, don't eat it, because it's not for human consumption. I looked it up. Apparently they make oil out of the crap that's left over after they press the olive oil. I suppose you're meant to use it to grease a squeaky hinge or something? But it was in the food section of the store.

I have to confess that I bought some cumin at the 99 cent store a couple of weeks ago. This seemed okay to me for some reason.

This discussion has given me much to think about. We have this crazy store in Sunnyside called the South Pole store. It has everything from little bottles of hotel shampoo to real gold jewelry. They also have food. Technically, it's not a 99 cent store, and therefore I feel no qualms about buying food there, sometimes for 99 cents. I realize that this doesn't make any sense.

I have been lured into 99 cent stores for the following reasons: I was really really broke, I wanted to be entertained, and/or I was looking for a bargain/wanted to feel like I was getting away with something. Sometimes all three.

There are a couple schools of thought. One person wrote: "I cannot in good conscience, or even in a not very serious one, support the whole sweat shop industry thing. The american obsession with a bargain has brought the scourge of the dollar store on itself. There is no such thing as something for nothing--or even 99 cents." Others have said that we who shop in 99 cent stores are getting over on the companies who mark everything up way too much.

I'm not sure what to think. Aren't clothes from The Gap and Banana Republic made in sweatshops, too? That's why it's best to buy them at the Goodwill (that's another topic.)

Perhaps my favorite speculation so far: the people who buy pregnancy tests at the 99 cent store also bought their condoms there.