Best Stores that Provide Savings for the Student Shopper
If there is one thing that college students have in common, it is a lack of disposable income.
Buying necessities for school and home can be expensive, but fortunately there are stores dedicated to offering cheaper prices.
It comes as no surprise that when we have to buy things we need, we tend to have a makeshift cost-benefit analysis running through our heads.
For example, is it worth it to buy a pack of pens for $7 or can we do without it for another week?
Where local stores may not provide the most ideal prices, look toward stores that hail from the other side of the world.
Daiso is a convenience store of Japanese origin. Daiso is set apart from other convenience stores because the majority of Daiso’s products are sold for $1.50.
Very few items will cost more than $1.50 and there will be a sticker attached to any product marked otherwise. The highest price I have seen a product being sold for was $5. It was a simple, framed mirror. Daiso can be considered a Japanese version of The Dollar Tree or a 99¢ Store.
The store has extensive sections dedicated to Japanese snacks, candy and instant foods. Hi-Chew, a popular fruity candy in various flavors such as original, Cola and sour, is a staple snack product that is usually sold in most Daiso stores.
In the Daiso in the Santa Anita Mall, there are shelves dedicated to snacks like Pocky, Yan-Yan and Hi-Chew. Photo taken on Sept. 22. Photo by Charity Wang.
There are also multiple variations of Pocky, a type of stick cookie, and Kit-Kat flavors unavailable in American stores like green tea.
Daiso sells a lot of things that may be considered surprising to find in a convenience store such as pots and pans, teacups, school or art supplies and beauty products. A large section of the store is dedicated to tableware like bowls, glass cups and even potholders.
Additionally, the store sells clothing accessories such as beanies, hats, gloves, socks and scarves.
The school supplies are high quality and durable. A one-inch binder that would usually cost $6 at Walmart or CVS costs $1.50 at Daiso.
One of the issues with Daiso for Citrus College students is the limited locations available. There are numerous stores available in the San Gabriel Valley, but the closest location to Citrus is at 848 E Arrow Hwy, San Dimas, in the same plaza as Party City and Sprouts.
The store inventory is dependant on the location of the store. The Daiso in the Santa Anita Mall may not have as large of a selection of tableware compared to the Daiso in Temple City, partially due to store size.
The Daiso website only sells products in bulk. Singular items must be bought in store.
But if your shopping list includes appliances, MINISO is your place to go.
MINISO is a low-cost retail store of Chinese origin. Even though the store may not market its products with one set price, the variety of usefulness and quality of some items makes up for the small increase in price. The prices are still low.
MINISO sells appliances like toasters, coffee makers, lamps, keyboards and headphones but does not sell many snacks other than bottled drinks and some candies.
MINISO has shelves of animal plushie pillows lined up in the back of the stores.
An interesting feature of MINISO is their trademarked product partnerships. One of the partnerships they have is with The Pink Panther Show. Plushies, pillows and stationary feature the notable pink feline character and its yellow, droopy eyes.
Cartoon Network’s “We Bare Bears” plays a large part in product imagery as Grizzly, Panda and Ice Bear’s faces appear on many of MINISO’s products including compact mirrors and earbuds.
Compared side by side, the MINISO lamp is cheaper on average compared to table lamps from other stores. Product information for Target, Walmart and Amazon can be found on their respective website. Infographic by Charity Wang.
MINISO’s website states that the company focuses on a “simple, natural and quality life” philosophy with its products. The product designs are not considered fashionable, which explains why most of MINISO’s products may look basic.
Same store, same shelf, but different week. The Santa Anita Mall MINISO sells animal plushies, which is one of the many products that change in variety depending on time of year. Left, owl, bear and penguin plushies were available during Oct. 3. Right, penguin, bear and dog plushies were stocked on the shelves during Sept. 22. Photoillustration by Charity Wang.
Depending on the store and time of year, the inventory may change. There is a very high chance that some products may no longer be available on a repeat visit.
Due to this, prospective shoppers are encouraged to make an impulse purchase if they like a certain design on any merchandise.
Even with the cheap prices, there sometimes comes a flaw in quality. Even though the “We Bare Bears” earbuds have an aesthetically pleasing design, the cords are extremely thin. While plugged into a phone, crackling can be heard when they are twisted as if they were about to break. The thin cords can also get lost in crevices like the small slivers of a car door handle.
Every appliance available in store needs to be charged first. They will not work right outside of the box, which may not be easily understood through the Google translated instructions.
MINISO America does not have an online shop available on its website. Instead, a photo gallery of the products is showcased on the site.
The closest MINISO to Citrus College is in the West Covina Mall.
If appliances are not needed, it may be time to refresh the wardrobe in time for the fall season.
Uniqlo is a Japanese-based store that focuses more on apparel than appliances and accessories.
It has a similar system to Daiso and MINISO with simply designed merchandise and mass-produced functions. They occasionally have limited-time and exclusive products, such as Shonen Jump and Dragonball-Z shirts.
A group of people are lined up to pay for their items at Uniqlo in Santa Anita Mall on Oct. 3. Uniqlo is a popular apparel store which is heavily frequented by visitors of the mall. Photo by Charity Wang.
Even though the clothes are simply designed, they are made with high-quality materials such as cashmere wool.
Uniqlo has an online shop. Apparel such as shirts, sweaters and jackets is available in many different colors like crimson red, mustard yellow or deep blue.
The majority of Uniqlo’s apparel is cheap compared to stores like Macy’s and Zara. T-shirts are priced around $10. Any shirt, pants, accessories or basic wear are priced moderately low.
Uniqlo also has shelves dedicated to socks, with 50 color varieties.
Though the priciest of the three, Uniqlo is the cheapest luxury clothing store on the market. Due to this, very few items will be considered outliers in price compared to all of the other apparel products. Some luxury items, considering the materials used to manufacture the apparel pieces, cannot be priced low.
A goose-down padded jacket, for example, costs $150. With a price tag like that, it mirrors other jackets of the same caliber bought from Macy’s or the discount rack at Nordstrom. Despite the price, it is a fair competitive price for the product’s actual value. Outerwear in general is often marked up compared to other apparel.
The store doesn’t have many locations either. The closest Uniqlo to Citrus College is in the Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia. There is also one in the Ontario Mills Mall, but to those that reside in the San Gabriel Valley it may be too far for convenience.
These stores have three goals in common: providing high-quality products with simple aesthetics at low prices, with the exception of Uniqlo’s outerwear. However, if willing to look beyond that, there is a motherlode of savings waiting in these stores.
