Inspiration often begins at home. Last year, Magazine photography editor Michael Zajakowski received an iTunes gift certificate and welcomed a Family Dollar store to his neighborhood. Those events converged, in his mind and in this week’s Magazine-and set us all wondering about the dollar and its worth in the post-penny-candy era.
Mike, a bargain hunter-thus a comrade of many of us at the Magazine who consider discount shopping a sport-urged us all to think about the dollar as a cultural phenomenon. “Is it just a coincidence,” Mike wondered, “that retailers of everything from high art [iTunes] to lowbrow essentials [a bar of Safeguard] consider a dollar, or 99 cents, a hot button for consumers like me?” For Mike, that question led to fond memories of poking around Woolworth’s or Ben Franklin–and wondering if the spirit of discovery that made those five-and-dime stores so popular could be found in today’s dollar store.
In her essay, “Dollar dearest,” Tribune cultural critic Julia Keller explores our emotional investment in the dollar as its commercial power dwindles. In “Single-digit economics,” senior writer Greg Burns takes a close look at why $1 is the magic number for consumers.
For Greg, the assignment was not without risk. When an off-brand bottle of drain cleaner leaked all over him in a store, there was no washroom and no help offered, so he grabbed a bottle of water to wipe up-and was charged for the water and the cleaner. Plus, his hands smelled like chlorine for days.
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etaylor@tribune.com
