DollarStores

Over the past few years, Walmart lost its rep for being the place to go for the lowest prices. Now, the nation's biggest retailer is making a serious push to earn that bargain cred back.

Dollar stores are luring a lot more consumers these days, and their rock-bottom prices aren't the only reason: The chains have undergone major makeovers in recent years, sprucing up their dingy digs and adding better merchandise.

One of Wal-Mart's problems is the rise of dollar stores, which the Great Recession has rendered trendy: It's hard to resist merchandise priced at just a buck. For investors, not all rock-bottom retailers are created equal. Here's how to shop for these stocks (and stretch your investing dollars in the process).

Thrifty shoppers looking for low prices on basics are frequently passing up the big boxes of Walmart for the tighter aisles of their local dollar stores. The cheaper upstarts have replaced no-name products with nationally known brands and revamped their interiors to lure in a new crop of bargain hungry customers.

Msnbc.com recently reported that Wall Street analysts are predicting a decline in business for dollar stores as the economy improves. Why? People forced by the bad economy to check out dollar stores such as Dollar Tree and Family Dollar to make ends meet in lean times will revert to shopping at...

When I wrote about dollar store things that have stood the test of time, readers responded with an impressive list of favorites. So, I thought it only fitting to include just a few of those stories here. Dollar stores often stock many great things for your gardening needs as attested to by the...

We're not out of the winter woods yet but spring is on the horizon and those of us who've had it up to our chins with cold and snow can't wait. Neither can dollar stores it seems. They've begun to stock everything from Easter baskets to gardening gloves. 99-Cent Only Stores are advertising the...

Well, I asked for your opinions about the clothing found at dollar stores and, once again, you responded with enthusiasm and honesty. Impressions tended to be varied from one reader to the next, even getting into a debate over what constitutes a dollar store. It seems some of you don't consider...

I asked for reader feedback about things you've bought at a dollar store but wouldn't buy again, and you let me have it! What surprised me was that most of the comments were about positive shopping experiences. Everyone loves the paper products, greeting cards, wrapping paper and the like, and I...

Not every purchase we make is entirely satisfying. Recently, I had to return a winter jacket to Sears after only two months of wear because a couple of the seams had started to fray. But dollar stores seem particularly susceptible open to criticism that "everything" they sell is junk. Personally,...