Moderately Confused by Jeff Stahler for June 23, 2023

Yes, they were. And 5 cent stores before that.

1879 … Seems like yesterday. It introduced the concept of “make the customer do all the work”.

I remember when our neighborhood five-and-dime added “25 cents and up” to their sign.

Remember the old Kresage’s. They had a pet store in the basement. Sold painted turtles. Then there was the donut machine. Fascinating. Could watch it for hours. The batter would plop into the oil and go down a conveyor. Halfway it would be flipped by a mechanical spatula to complete its journey into a bin for sale.

I remember Woolworth’s and Kresge’s in Montreal when I was young.

Yes they were.

Want a great read. Look for a copy of the Sears Catalogs from the 1890’s. Takes days to see all the stuff and read the copy for each. They were the ‘Amazon’ of heir time but were more interesting because one dealt with people and not screens. Anything you ordered would be delivered and if you moved it would be forwarded until it reached you.

To date myself, we used to call them Dime Stores.

H.S. Kress, Kresge’s and TG&Y! We always had to take a trip down the toy aisle!

I heard it called the 5 and dime on an old (even then) movie, and called TG&Y that one time, and Mama got on me. “That’s what the (lowlifes) call it. We don’t talk like that.” I don’t remember exactly what she called them, it’s been 50+ years ago, but that was what she meant, lol.

When I was a kid they actually had penny candy, gum balls, mary janes, squirrels, licorice strips, etc

And now, led by the revenue enhancement people at American Airlines, everyone from service providers to ticket sellers have learned how to “nickel and dime” the customer.

Woolworths Five & Dime! A blast from the past.

We had Murphy’s Five and Ten. I was a poor excuse of a stock boy for them.

We didn’t have a Five & Dime, but we did have a Ben Franklin’s.

We had a 5, 10, 15 cent store.

In a way. I remember an episode of “Futurama” where everyone in the country got $300 dollars. One of the immediate changes was a big store sign being changed from “$.99 Store” to “$299.99 Store”. Inflation is a game of tag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x-wQWZuQho&t=4s

But.. it’s all relative isn’t it? In 1960 a McDonald burger might cost 20→25 cents. My first paying job, fighting forest fires paid 50 cents an hour. I expect todays firefighters could still buy a couple of burgers for an hours work.

A short history of some 5 and 10¢ store chains in the USA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bejAA-Q_a04

BTW, Woolworth is a large chain in operation in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, but is not related to the F.W. Woolworth in the rest of the world, the founders just liked the name. “Woolies”, as they say in Oz, is sort of a combination Safeway, Whole Foods and Target and just about everywhere. Coles and Aldi’s are also big down under.

the Dollar Stores aren’t as much fun

I had made a reference in a comment elsewhere about bank’s service charges, referred to the death by a thousand cuts practice as nickel-diming. But, really, that’s become a dated expression.

What´s the difference between a nickelnd a dime? Five cents.

Pretty much. They smelled different. Many had lunch counters.

Yep. That’s the True meaning of Inflation.

Sadly, at the same time, the “Quality” of the merchandise on sale has gone down the tubes.

Once upon a time, it was Worth that dime. Well, it still is worth a Dime but it costs a Dollar.

We called them “Dime Stores”

G. C. Murphy’s