When is a dollar store not a dollar store?

Reading glasses from DAISO

The world is filled with retail stores whose central strategy is a fixed price point for every product. In the UK it is the Pound store, in Canada and the United States is the Dollar store, and in Japan it is the 100 Yen store.

And when DAISO, the Japanese price point store, came to Canada the price changed from 100 Yen to $2.00.

But the remarkable thing about the products in DAISO is the quality. Most of the products at Canadian dollar stores are pretty uninspiring. For some products, in order to hit the magic price point, the manufacturer has to reduce the quality. And in some cases, the quality is reduced to the point where the products is barely functional.

So, is a $1.00 pair of reading glasses worth the money? And is a $2.00 pair of reading glasses, from DAISO, really twice as good?

In a word, NO and YES. The products from DAISO are much better than the stuff I find at the dollar store. Yes, the DAISO glasses are twice the price, but the quality is 10 times better. The DAISO reading glasses have better frames and lenses and are far more comfortable. 

So, yes, you do get what you pay for. And DAISO does offer some great products at very good prices. I just wonder how much better the $3.00 reading glasses are?