Discount and low-end retail merchandising has been savaged by rising rents in Manhattan...Oh, if only Woolworth's were still around! ( They only closed in Britain recently).
Manhattan used to have all sorts of great discount retail stores-- like Odd Job Traders and National Wholesale Liquidators--that are no more.
Also disappearing are the 99 cent stores...though they remain in Spanish Harlem and in the boroughs to some extent.
The desirability of these places comes to mind when you just want to get something simple like pretty decorated plastic place mats...
The big Jack's 99 cents store near Herald Square is still going strong, it seems--it's packed to the rafters with customers at midday. Seems to me the selection of merchandise isn't as good as it used to be, but nothing is ever like it used to be...particularly when landmarks of a kind have been driven out of business by the forces of gentrification and rising rents.
Will also never forget the bargain vacuum cleaner I got once at Odd Job Traders... that's when I had a rug. I don't have one now in my apartment for all sorts of reasons ( and they aren't required in this building as they are in some).
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