If you want to shop at a hipster store but you don’t like the dark and you don’t have much money, Five Below may be your best bet. It’s brightly organized like an Old Navy commercial, yet if offers the same kinds of deals you’d find at any local dollar store—without the piles in carts to sort through or the tight, cramped aisles.
Everything at Five Below is five bucks or less, making it a great quick stop for birthday parties, dorm organizing, or candy binges. There’s t-shirts, cosmetics (pretty stuff, I must admit), books, art supplies and kits, party supplies, and more. Our local store even features workout equipment; I was tempted to purchase a boxing bag today myself.
My sister proclaimed that the store has changed her life—she did, after all, buy some shoes for under five bucks there. But I have to say that I’ve found many of these deals more cheaply elsewhere. Some candy that’s available for $1.25, for example, is often 99 cents at the bigger stores like Target and Wal-Mart. Littlest Pet Shops, which were $4 at Five Below, can be found elsewhere for $3. School supplies at the store selling for $2 or $3 can also be found at just about any other store for less right now as well. That may not sound like a lot of a difference, but if you’re stocking up on birthday gifts for the school year, or college supplies, or whatever, it will add up.
The party supplies there were pretty cheap—mere cents for items like streamers—and I may end up shopping there for my daughter’s party this fall. Candy lovers will enjoy the 4 for $1 and 10 for $1 deals as well. But what I liked best about the store were the quirky finds you might not discover elsewhere, such as zombie doll key chains, posters of Merida from Brave and The Nightmare Before Christmas—which were a little high at $5 each, though I still want them!—and lots of practical joke items. As much as I dislike those little families on the back of peoples’ cars, Five Below had a zombie set that I could almost see myself buying.
It’s like Spencer’s met Target at Old Navy and they all got drunk and puked together, and the result is this store. It’s not a bad thing, really—I could easily spend a whole check there, and I’m sure many others could, too.