The average college student spends four years working for a minimum- wage paycheck and subsisting on a diet of ramen noodles and cheap beer in the hope that his or her diligence will result in a fruitful career and an opportunity to eat actual meals.
Until then, college students in Bakersfield flock to the local dollar stores to save money on the essentials of living. There are two types of dollar stores: There are the small (typically foreign-owned) stores that have the word “dollar” in the title and seem to lack anything at or below that cost, and there are the warehouse-sized havens of value that actually charge a dollar, or less, for anything inside.
Of the latter, two differing brands exist: Dollar Tree and 99 Cents Only. Apart from one measly penny, one would think that both establishments have the same things to offer. To the contrary, Dollar Tree has a variety of goods and superfluous items, while 99 Cents Only has an abundance of food and lacks the essentials.
Dollar Tree is great for obtaining the necessary things that students may be lacking in their homes, everything from dishes and cups to picture frames and laundry soap.
Two aisles in the Dollar Tree on Airport Drive are dedicated solely to stationery, which is fortunate for college students. However, while single or dual packages of pens are fine, I would recommend against buying pens in packs of 10 or more. I once bought a 20-pack of pens from Dollar Tree, and each one only wrote about three lines.
Dollar Tree also has greeting cards, perfect for when you forget that it’s an acquaintance’s birthday, and you don’t want to look like a jerk. They say all of the lame stuff that a Hallmark card would but for a third or fourth of the price. A greeting card is just a folded piece of paper and a catchy phrase written by someone who used to have dreams.
Dollar Tree stores are always haphazardly stocked and arranged. The potato chips may be located in one aisle, but the dip is three aisles away from it. They also have a habit of filling their stores with items that only drug-infused octogenarians would possibly buy. On Airport Drive, Dollar Tree has a porcelain figure of two epileptic-looking albino children collecting water from a well.
99 Cents Only also likes to stock things that no normal person would buy, particularly in their DVD collections. I’m a sports fan, but I don’t want to watch a three-hour documentary about retired Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Reggie White.
99 Cents Only has a far greater collection of food than Dollar Tree. A four-pack of eggs, a loaf of bread, a package of Farmer John brand pork sausage and a quart of milk can all be found for a dollar each. That means you can make an entire breakfast for $4. However, the bruised produce, which is left unrefrigerated and individually packaged in what appears to be Saran Wrap, looks iffy.
What 99 Cents Only gains in its volume of food, it lacks in other things. At the new store on Olive Drive, there is practically no stationery to be had. The only thing 99 Cents Only has over Dollar Tree aside from food is the half of an aisle they have dedicated to automobile fluids, although it probably would not be a good idea to put their motor oil in your brand new Corvette.
Overall, Dollar Tree is a better store for the superior variety that it has, but 99 Cents Only is still a great place to go, especially for those who don’t have the money to even step foot inside a Vons or Albertson’s.