We've heard a lot during this recession about shopping habits, and people reining in spending -- out of necessity, or as a precaution. That got us thinking about discount stores, and whether their sales have gone up, as shoppers look for deals. Ann-Elise Henzl visited several low-cost retailers to see how business is going.
Dollar stores are always a good place for a bargain. That's according to Debra Hornik. She often shops at Dollar Delight, in a strip mall in Fox Point, north of Milwaukee. Hornik manages a restaurant nearby, and looks for items that could be useful to her.
"We're having a pork special for the month of March and I was looking for some little pigs just so that I could photocopy onto the a menu, little pictures of something either in a coloring book or in a kid toy kind of thing. I'm not finding it so I'm buying tea and honey instead, " Hornik says.
So why do you come to a dollar store?
"I like the -- first of all the variety, gift wrap of course, bags, stuff like that, party favors, this is an awesome place for party favors because you can really go nuts and stay in your budget," Hornik says.
Some of the merchandise is brand name stock. Everything sells for around $1 or $2. Ty Bergeron is a co-owner. He shows off the store's extensive children's book selection. He says book sales have gone up lately because of the slow economy.
"Books are becoming a real entertainment value for a lot of people. I mean even public libraries have seen a huge increase in that type of things so we have literally had to expand our book area here probably two to three times what we used to have," Bergeron says.
Bergeron buys his stock from vendors who are trying to unload merchandise. He says spending on non-essential items has declined lately, but the store is coming out even, because of the uptick of sales in other areas.
Across town, a steady stream of shoppers flows into a Family Dollar chain store, on Capitol Drive, in Milwaukee's central city. The national retailer sells brand name merchandise, like clothes and garden supplies, at lower prices than big department stores. Today there's a special on Easter baskets, filled with basketballs and candy. Henry Nellum lives in the neighborhood. He's standing in line with a basket full of toiletries.
"Any kind of deodorant, body wash, stuff like that," Nellum says.
I ask Nellum whether he's shopping at Family Dollar because of the recession.
"Well not really, because even before the economy got bad I always tried to find a good price, bargain place to go anyway, so it's pretty much the same for me," Nellum says.
While Nellum hasn't changed his habits, a spokesman for Family Dollar says its low prices are luring new customers. Sales have actually gone up.
"What people are trying to do I think is just save where they can," says Josh Braverman, a spokesman for the North Carolina-based chain. It has more than 6,000 stores tucked in neighborhoods across the United States.
Business is also going well at discount grocer ALDI, another retailer that's fanning out in neighborhoods across the country. The Illinois-based company is opening new stores this year, including in the Milwaukee area.
Spokeswoman Martha Swaney says ALDI is succeeding because of its business model. It offers a limited selection.
"We carry about 1,400 of the most frequently purchased products, as opposed to the 100,000-200,000 products that you may find among our competitors," Swaney says.
I decided to check out a newer ALDI in Greenfield, southwest of Milwaukee. There, I met Nader Asad of Franklin, who pointed out the contents of his overflowing cart.
"Hot dogs, peanut butter, margarine, and oil," says Nader Asad.
You have quite a big quantity. I see nine bottles of oil, about 24 jars of peanut butter. Is that for a family, or for a party, or some other kind of function?
"No, it's for a business," Asad says.
That business is a convenience store. Asad says the prices are so reasonable at ALDI that he's started to shop here, to buy the groceries that he'll sell -- for a profit -- at his convenience store.
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