Dollar stores: the (not so) new hangout of crafters
In the past five years, dollar stores have been opening in my area in large numbers. The few dollar stores I had visited in the USA always seemed full of mugs, knick knacks that you never want to receive, and lots of other things that many would call junk. However, as the years have gone on, dollar stores have begun to carry a wide array of things that people want. And if the constantly increasing size of my local dollar store’s craft section is any indication, people want to be able able to get affordable crafting supplies.
My favourite dollar store is the one that sticks to its mandate to provide all its merchandise at $1 or less in price. However, because of this mandate, there is a limit to the quality and/or selection that can be bought from this store. Even so, Dollarama is good for brads, eyelets, glitter, adhesive jewels, beads, knitting needles, small balls of (acrylic) yarn, and charms. When you want to spend a little bit more for your materials than $1, and want some more selection on what you can get, you may want to try a store such as Buck or Two, where the price range is a larger than other dollar stores. It’s a good reason too: you can find a wide selection of scrapbooking paper and far more interesting designs, shapes and sizes in brads, stickers and ribbon.
One of the last times I went, I found some paper flowers:
It’s fairly hit and miss with dollar stores though: you have to know when new stock is dropped and make sure you drop by regularly. One dollar store even has a mailing list that you can join to be told when new scrapbooking material arrives at the store.
Where do you get your inexpensive craft materials?
dollar store, cheap crafts, craft, inexpensive crafts
June 13th, 2007 at 9:14 am
The Dollar Tree where I live has a whole aisle now dedicated to scrapbooking and paper crafting, along with other sections for other types of crafts. Being in a fairly small town with few shopping options (ie no big chain crafts stores like Michael’s), I sure am glad the dollar store is carrying more crafts items!
June 13th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
The dollar store is great! I’m also all for “shopping” at yard sales–it’s a great place to find things that you can refinish, decoupage, paint, etc.
November 17th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
[...] to what I would have paid, I became hooked. However, during this time I also discovered that the Dollar store was a wonderful source of craft items, and I proceeded to buy everything that appealed to me without giving it much thought because it [...]