Family Dollar

Great prices but the quality of things isn’t always great. Most things like hygiene products, food, school supplies and cleaning supplies are good to buy here and you can save a lot of money. But I wouldn’t buy clothes or anything for my cellphone here. The staff is usually very friendly but the lines can be VERY long so a suggestion get a cart because you may be waiting a long time with your stuff. Also sometimes their credit card/​EBT machine breaks and they only accept cash.

When I’m in the Crown Heights community, particularly this end of it, I stop here to pick up staples, as needed. I first went into one of these stores in Waltham, MA, about a year and a half ago, and I was pleasantly surprised by the merchandise. I appreciated the fact that they sold Febreze, Bounty, Kleenex, mops, buckets, and other such quality cleaning necessities at reasonable prices.
The food selection is actually quite satisfactory; their in-​house label items are actually very good, and are a great bargain (and most of it is under the kosher supervision of the OU). They carry parve Graham crackers (both plain and Cinnamon flavor), parve Saltine crackers, parve Snacker crackers (much better and cheaper than Liebers and Kemach brands), and the Family Gourmet label includes parve sugar wafer cookies, kosher cheese crackers, juices, nuts, pita chips, and even some condiments. I’ve been very pleased with the quality of their kosher generic items, and the price is certainly right, despite the ghetto vibe one gets from their stores.

As much as I hate the phrase «it is what it is», I can’t think of any other way to describe Family Dollar. Despite what the name implies, it’s not a 99 cent store. It’s a fairly large store, and you can always get off-​brand popcorn, generic «Pop Tarts», or any number of weird irregular clothing. I wouldn’t count on them having something very specific that you need though. There are much better 99 cent stores for that (though I suppose, maybe not in this area).