Comment by the_af | Hacker News Reader

Comment by the_af | Hacker News Reader

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It's the one store/retailer I didn't find interesting at all while visiting Japan.

I have to confess that, in small doses (so as not to lose my sanity), I sort of enjoy the all-sorts-of-random-crap stores. I could spend unhealthy amounts of my time in those 100 Yen stores (or whatever they are called, I might be misremembering their names).

But Don Quijote was just garish and uncomfortable. It was even difficult to walk the aisles. Everything about it screamed to me "get out of here fast!". I can't understand how it is successful.

PS: while on the subject of these crap/budget stores, can someone from the US tell me if my hunch is right about the following? While visiting the US I discovered those Five Below stores (everything between $1 and $5) and I think I figured their trick: while the advertised price range is true, this doesn't mean what they sell is actually cheap! For example, I'm pretty sure I saw Hot Wheels cars at about $3 when everywhere else the same toys were near $1. Am I missing something?

Yes, you are correct.

All retailers play the same game though, with products priced as loss leaders to get traffic in the door in the hopes you don't notice you're paying 1.5x as much for anything else you grab while there.

The dollar stores take it to the next level (as you noticed). They thrive on the financial illiteracy of poor and rural demographics.

Look at the price of paper towels. Only $1, right? But it's half the size of the $1 rolls at Walmart.

Other stuff is just poor quality. $1 for a gallon of watered-down "bleach", versus $3 for the real deal elsewhere.

God help you if you swing a dollar store hammer around. Those dollar safety glasses will be about as effective as taping an actual dollar across your eyes.

Like a timeshare salesman or casino, they make you think you're winning to keep you coming back.

I would not be so casually disparaging of the intelligence of the poor. Sometimes you know its crap and more expensive in the long term but just don't have the funds to buy the better version. Poverty in the United States is an endless series of traps and gotchas to take advantage of people too weak to properly defend themselves.

Not to mention “rural”? You’re rural so you’re financially illiterate?? Might make sense to follow some farmers on twitter if you think rural means financially illiterate.

I'm only this blase because I've lived among them. They generally make poor decisions.

Is renting a couch from a rent-to-repo store truly necessary? No. Nobody needs a couch.

But they'll insist they do and willingly amortize the cost of 10 couches to temporarily have one.

> The dollar stores take it to the next level (as you noticed). They thrive on the financial illiteracy of poor and rural demographics.

:/ Might make sense to review this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18746790.

> I could spend unhealthy amounts of my time in those 100 Yen stores (or whatever they are called, I might be misremembering their names)

Daiso

In the UK, pound shops often get special smaller package sizes for brand name goods so while they may appear cheaper, they arent.

Yes, 100 Yen Shops.

I wandered into quite a few last week mostly just looking at all the types of goods you just don't see in Australia. Bought a lot of weird flavoured Kit-Kats.

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