There's A New Online Player In The Dollar Store Space

After the economy suffered a meltdown, dollar stores welcomed cash-strapped shoppers and the space exploded, making names like Dollar Tree, Inc. DLTR and Dollar General Corp. DG big players in retail.

Despite what the title “dollar store” might suggest, the values offered at these stores weren’t always superior to what might be found at bigger boxes like Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT and Target Corporation TGT, but the speed and convenience of the shopping experience couldn’t be matched (Walmart is often lambasted by shoppers about the dearth of cashiers).

Relative newcomer Five Below Inc FIVE has taken the value pricing to another level by limiting the cost of every item in the store to $5 or less. Dollar stores even seemed immune to the traffic crushing effects of the Amazon.

Now, perhaps, the dollar stores have perhaps met a disruptor to their model in a startup called Hollar.com. Time’s Money Magazine reports Hollar operates exclusively online - a weak spot for all the existing brick and mortar dollar stores - offers free standard shipping for orders of at least $25, and cashes in on shoppers’ impulse to make purchases, well, on impulse.