Dr. Sabrina Segal

My ten-year old neighbor loves the Dollar Store. She vigilantly pores over shelves of merchandise to find the perfect gift which she will purchase with her own money. The deliberation that goes in to each selection is considerable. A single dollar bill allows this young girl to make someone happy.

A neighborhood teenager pools her dollars with friends to buy a few dollar menu items. Three bucks = 3 different items of food to share with the group.

Today at the supermarket, a fruit cup was being sold at 10 for $10. Of course, I bought ten.

Welcome to the a dollar economy.

Those of us who work for a living know the value of a dollar and what it can buy alone or when added to a few more dollars. We watch the prices, look at the unit costs, and make brand purchase decisions with price in mind. Is it necessary to forego quality, taste, or some feature when buying generic over the brand? We analyze all of this because we are savvy and educated shoppers.

In our world, not everything costs a dollar and we know that some things in dollar stores are overpriced at a dollar. It is our years of shopping experience that allows us to make these assessments.

But what about the teenager and the tween? They have grown up in an economy where gifts and food cost only a dollar. How will this affect them as future consumers? Sure, the teenager has to decide if she wants the dollar menu at Wendy's Taco Bell, McDonald's or Burger King, so she is making brand decisions - which fast food joint gives her the best bang for the buck?

But for the tween, she knows that a dollar buys anything and everything in her store. Does she understand that this is not the case in every store? Only time will tell if these early shopping experiences will shape her purchase actions as an adult.

Do you think that this generation of "dollar" shoppers will be highly price conscious as adults?

Photograph Credit:
Sabrina Segal