Does your country have a variation of a “dollar store?”

[Yeshuasdaughter]

What I wonder is if other countries outside North America have Walmart, Target, and Costco, or if those are just American stores.

 

[Forest Cat]

What I wonder is if other countries outside North America have Walmart, Target, and Costco, or if those are just American stores.

An American I know asked me if we have Walmart here, we don't and that's a little surprising really. Afterall, they are the worlds largest retailer. No Walmart, no Target, no Costco here. I do remember a couple of American store chains trying to break into the Norwegian market and do business here but they failed because things are a little different I think, different market.

 

[Aneka]

The have Pound Shops here. Although most stuff is over £1. Also it's mass produced, poorly made tat which probably should never have existed in the first place.

As someone who has expensive tastes and prefers well made things that last - the likes of budget stores and outlets such as Primark with their ultra cheap, mass produced, poorly made garments. It's the sort of thing that infuriates me.

I know, a lot of people live on the breadline and stores such as this are probably a Godsend. When I've been into such stores before - there's a certain clientele. To paint a picture and stereotype - loud, obnoxious, too many kids, probably flunked school, bad tattoos, bad teeth, not old but walk with a pronounced waddle. You know the sort.

Well, now I've dug that hole for myself, I shall depart.

Ed

This dude. I'm feeling nostalgic now

 

[Aneka]

What I wonder is if other countries outside North America have Walmart, Target, and Costco, or if those are just American stores.

Walmart had tried to expand to Europe but they quit in Germany. I believe consumer culture is pretty different. That was decades ago, I read about it.
We've got Woolworth stores.

 

[VictorR]

So in Canada...

CAD 1.00 = ~ USD 0.72
USD 1.00 = ~ CAD 1.40

EGADS (Everything for a Dollar Store, a chain) was quite active in the 1990s, along with many independent stores. Most specialized in party supplies / decor, stationary, snacks, and random knick-knacks. They kind of died off.

In the 2000s, we saw the rise of Dollarama. They had an expansive selection of goods and over the years, have expanded their price points to CAD 2, then CAD 4 and now CAD 5. Most of the things they sell are things they bring in themselves from various places, but they also bring in overstock from other places as well, some of which can be good deals. Currently they dominate the market in Canada, and they've also put a squeeze on the liquidation / clearance type store, of which there are few remaining.

There was also a store called Dollar Giant, which was also based on the same idea. They've since been purchased by and rebranded as Dollar Tree, with the current price point for most items being CAD 1.50. In my area, they often get overstock from local bakeries, and sometimes you get some neat stuff come in like kosher rye loaves or pitas.

Canadian dollar stores, aside from bread, do not sell any fresh foods - only prepackaged / canned stuff. Certain items, like breakfast cereal, tend to be poor value and more expensive on a weight basis than larger packages available at grocery stores - likely to cover the additional packaging costs. They tend to be best for party decor, accessories, and simple household items like hangers, basic craft supplies.

To steer this back on topic, another thing I’m wondering if other countries have is huge discount stores where you can purchase things in bulk, like Costco or BJ’s.
It’s basically a warehouse that sells food, household items, clothes, toys, etc but you can buy a huge package of it for a discount price.

There's only one here, and it's called...









wait for it...









Costco.

Fun fact 1: Costco memberships cross the border - so Canadian Costco members can visit US Costco locations (and a lot joke about going to the one in Hawaii when there given how expensive things are there) and vice versa. In places close to the border, like Vancouver, it's kind of a running joke in US border towns that on a weekend, half or more of the plates are Canadian. Same goes for Trader Joe's. (Certain things like dairy and eggs are cheaper on the US side)

Fun Fact 2: The hot dog and pop combo at a Canadian Costco is CAD 1.50, making it USD 1.08, and significantly cheaper than it is stateside.

What I wonder is if other countries outside North America have Walmart, Target, and Costco, or if those are just American stores.

Walmart is active in several places. In the UK, it operates as Asda. They're currently active in 24 countries in total under various banners.

Target made its first and only foray outside of the US in its epic failure in Canada during 2013-2015. It's interesting because they had and continue to have many loyal Canadian customers and card holders, but their Canadian stores had major supply chain issues in addition to poorer product selection and higher prices than their US stores... and so their Canadian customers simply continued to visit their US stores, leaving their Canadian ones to languish and ultimately fail.

Costco operates a number of locations outside of US and Canada, including Mexico, Japan, UK and some other countries. (14 countries in total).

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I miss the 99 cent store, in Southern California (Orange County). You could buy groceries there too! Fresh produce. OMG Watermelons fresh from Bakersfield for 99 cents.

I loooooved that store.

 

[Judge]

What I wonder is if other countries outside North America have Walmart, Target, and Costco, or if those are just American stores.

https://corporate.walmart.com/about/location-factshttps://corporate.target.com/about/locationshttps://www.businessinsider.com/costco-shopping-around-world-photos-2019-11?op=1

 

[Outdated]

We did have Target in Australia, they went in to receivership just recently. Here they mostly sold cheap clothing and bedding but whoever they used as fashion consultants were grossly out of touch. I still remember the disappointment in Palmerston, just south of Darwin. People had been told for years that they were going to get a big department store and they were really excited about the idea.

What the people wanted was Kmart, what they got was Target. It nearly caused a riot.

 

[Au Naturel]

I was thinking about this earlier so I Googled it, but couldn’t really find anything other than Poundland in the UK, and Euro Giant in Ireland.

In the US, a dollar store is exactly what it sounds like, a variety/value store that sells really cheap products for $1 USD.
Dollar Tree and Dollar General are our big ones.

I admittedly do occasionally purchase certain items at dollar stores, like Halloween decorations, birthday wrapping paper, basic kitchen utensils, etc. It’s all cheap obviously but it still functions.

Do other countries, like European or Asian countries, Australia, etc have an equivalent? Like a $1 whatever your currency is store?

I was really surprised by how hard it is to find an answer for this question, even reading threads on reddit.

What are some of your experiences?
Forgive me if this is a totally stupid question, I’m just curious.

I think ourd changed to a "dollar and up" store. Lots of stuff that is really inexpensive but well over a dollar.

 

[Outdated]

I think ourd changed to a "dollar and up" store. Lots of stuff that is really inexpensive but well over a dollar.

Here they are known as $2 shops, but that tag has nothing to do with the prices of items in the shop, it's just a convenient tag that we all latched on to.

 

[Progster]

One thing I really wish we had here is thrift stores, or charity shops. Nothing like that exists here. There are second hand stores, but not accociated with any charity and they only sell clothes.

 

[wraith]

Those straws are awesome, I love glitter!

We have loads of those shops here, if you go into any town or high street they are everywhere. They are good for general household items or throwaway stuff for craft and art projects but you do get what you pay for. They're not the kind of places where you want to be doing all your shopping. I will not wear their underwear for example. I do buy their noodles sometimes. The high streets here look like they are dying though, shops are closing and sitting empty all over the place. We have like billions of charity shops there are like ten of them in my town centre.

 

[Trophonius]

Not anymore. I believe around 20 years ago there was a surge of stores named "Todo por $10" or "Todo por $20" or "Todo por $50". They didn't last long, I believe because while they promised to sell only cheap products for a fixed price, many if not most products in the store were far more expensive.

 

[Outdated]

One thing I really wish we had here is thrift stores, or charity shops.

We have some really great charity shops here, the biggest and best are run by the Salvation Army. They're actually an obscure religious group with a fairly militant charter.

They are also the only charity that I donate to because they are the ones I see out on the streets rescuing drunks, drug addicts and homeless people. They turn 100% of all profit back in to the local communities.

 

[Forest Cat]

Walmart had tried to expand to Europe but they quit in Germany. I believe consumer culture is pretty different. That was decades ago, I read about it.
We've got Woolworth stores.

We have some German stores here called Lidl, those are low price stores I think. Those fit right in but the Americans failed when they tried to open stores here.

We did have Target in Australia, they went in to receivership just recently. Here they mostly sold cheap clothing and bedding but whoever they used as fashion consultants were grossly out of touch. I still remember the disappointment in Palmerston, just south of Darwin. People had been told for years that they were going to get a big department store and they were really excited about the idea.

What the people wanted was Kmart, what they got was Target. It nearly caused a riot.

I imagine a riot in Australia is just total chaos, kangaroos and very angry Australians running around going nuts.

 

[Mary Terry]

What I wonder is if other countries outside North America have Walmart, Target, and Costco, or if those are just American stores.

Walmart is all over Mexico.

 

[Outdated]

I imagine a riot in Australia is just total chaos, kangaroos and very angry Australians running around going nuts.

We don't tend to get riled up very often, but when we do it can be messy.

 

[Judge]

What the people wanted was Kmart, what they got was Target. It nearly caused a riot.

That's kind of a sore subject here as well. The two K-Marts in the area closed long ago, leaving only multiple Walmarts to fill in the void.

Target is and always has been upscale in price and quality to Walmart over any number of products. Sometimes it's good to local consumers, sometimes not. I'd prefer to have had a wider variety of discounts myself. Too bad "Dollar Tree" isn't a larger store selling clothing and other such items I could once get at K-Mart. But with a broadly defined middle class, it's difficult to predict from one locality to another what they may prefer as a "consumer majority".

I moved far away from a California city that was so pretentious that it tried to give the appearance of a "Rodeo Drive North" (Beverly Hills). So yeah, I would welcome a K-Mart over a Tiffanys or yet another exotic car dealership.

My bad!

 

[Mary Terry]

That's kind of a sore subject here as well. The two K-Marts in the area closed long ago, leaving only multiple Walmarts to fill in the void.

Target is and always has been upscale in price and quality to Walmart over any number of products. Sometimes it's good to local consumers, sometimes not. I'd prefer to have had a wider variety of discounts myself. Too bad "Dollar Tree" isn't a larger store selling clothing and other such items I could once get at K-Mart. But with a broadly defined middle class, it's difficult to predict from one locality to another what they may prefer as a "consumer majority".

We joke that Target is actually pronounced as "Tar Jay" as if it were French.

 

[Judge]

We joke that Target is actually pronounced as "Tar Jay" as if it were French.

ROTFL....So do we.

Nicer atmosphere, no question. But we're all paying for it no differently than going into a Nordstrom's. Especially when I go through the grocery section and see how much more expensive the same items are which can be found at Walmart. Admittedly though for me there are certain food items (fresh vegetables) I buy at Safeway and do pay more for good reason. Took a few times to learn not to ever buy tomatoes and green peppers at Walmart. Yuck!