Readers Digest - Readers Digest 99 Cent Solutions

of your Favorite Five-and-Dime ?

A cozy notion that can STUFF A PILLOW and also LOWER YOUR HEATING BILLS!

A terrifically TASTY TREAT FOR BREAKFAST that will also POLISH YOUR FURNITURE!

A fabulously frugal tool for REMOVING A STAPLE and SCRATCHING YOUR BACK!

A tried-and-true PASTRY SCHOOL SUPPLY that also REMOVES SPLINTERS!

A brilliantly inexpensive item that FLAVORS YOUR TEA and SHINES YOUR JEWELRY!

and so much more!

WHY BUY PURPOSE-SPECIFIC ITEMS WHEN ONE SIMPLE TOOL CAN ACCOMPLISH SO MUCH?

Weve all had this experience, from as far back as we can remember, regardless of where we lived, or what the store was called.

We walk into our local five-and-dime (or 99 cent store, Dollar Store, Woolworths, or McCrorys or even our neighborhood general store that seems to sell far more than just nuts and bolts), and we begin to wander the aisles. We mosey up the notions aisle, transfixed by bolts of colorful fabric and buttons, and down the health and beauty aisle, with its jars of cold cream and boxes of analgesics. We stroll through the tool section and maybe visit the school supply or toy aisle, and uncover everything from glue to marbles to pencils. And then, maybe we stop for a grilled cheese sandwich or a cherry Coke to bolster a shopping trip that has turned into a walk through an institution that really hasnt changed since our grandparents day.

In my own family, my grandmother would pick me up at the school bus and togetherrain or shine, sleet or snow or hailwe would walk down a long boulevard until we arrived on a cross street that had not one, but two dime stores on it: McCrorys on the western side of the street, and Woolworths on the eastern. On some days, wed visit McCrorys for a sandwich or a slice of cherry pie, and wed stroll the aisles, looking at odd nicknacks that ran the gamut from the sublime to the positively silly. On other days, wed pop into Woolworths, which was decidedly more serious; you could buy bicycle tires, little red wagons, thread, Play-Doh, skeins of yarn, tooth powder, buttonhole-makers, yo-yos, jacks, cans of (white) tennis balls, knee socks, tube socks, anklet socks, support hose, peds, nail files, chewing gum in every flavor, plastic guitars, strings for plastic guitars, Flutophones, glassware, Pyrex dishes, Christmas ornaments, holiday greeting cards, baby lotion, Corelle ware, rain boots, Keds, potato chips, baked goods, tools, bicycles, and everything in between. What we didnt know (or took for granted, anyway) was that Woolworths was, at one time, also the largest seller of restaurant food in the world.