In America there are dollar stores, in Taiwan there are ten dollar (thirty three cents US) stores. Well kind of. You may notice that the big sign says ten dollars, but the side sign that you can't see also says ten dollars, but hand written under that says "and up." So essentially they are saying that the minimum price for their goods is ten dollars. So couldn't any other store be called a "one dollar and up store"?
As for what's in the store, you'd basically find the same things you find in a dollar store in america. And yes there was a time when everything was ten taiwan dollars. When i first came to taiwan there was a store like this near my job that was first called a ten dollar store, then moved to a twenty dollar store, then to a fifty dollar store, finally it said it was a store where one hundred dollars is the max price.
As a rule stores like this have prices anywhere from ten dollars to hundred dollars (3 bucks). And while i used to get things from these kind of shops, for the past few years things are actually more expensive at these types of places than at actual stores. usually if i want some cheap thing, i can get an almost fifty percent cheaper price at a supermarket. As such, many of these places have closed down. It's a bit of a shame cause most of these types of places are family owned shops that have been around for decades (some even feel like they are that old). In the future, where will i buy my cheap flip flops?
