REVIEW: DII aka Deals & Discounts
Erica | Monday, December 8, 2008 at 12:05AM 
(photo: Gowanus Lounge)
I finally checked out DII: Deals and Discounts, the new low-end closeout shop on the corner of 9th Street and 5th Avenue.
Overall, I'd give it a strong meh.
I'd say that this is def a place you should check out if you are in the market for one of the following items:
*socks
*underwear
*toys
*tights/leggings
*Christmas wrap
Otherwise, its pretty missable.
Having said that, we went with a v. specific purpose: finding Chanukah and Bday gifts for our 5 nieces and nephews. We needed Chanukah pressies for all 5 kids and Bday presents for the oldest (6 yr old boy) and the youngest (1 yr old triplets).
On that front, we totally reached mission accomplished: found crap toys for everyone with the most expensive item (a fake electronic cell phone) ringing in at $13.99.
We bought: Elmo's, Cookie Monsters, Big Birds, Kidz Card Games, a Diego helicopter, books, puzzles, Baby rattle-y stuff, 2 backpacks, a gone fishin set, some weird ninja game, stackable trucks, these cool dolls that you're *supposed* to draw on, a few packs of socks, scotch tape, and a hat all for $126.23.
Here it is (excuse the crappy iphone pic):
They didn't have much in the way of toiletries (though they did have some stuff) and their candy/food dept. was also pretty small. There were clothes sections for both Men and Women and each had one or two interesting items amidst a sea of crap (for women they had these pretty cool dancer tight-like leggings and for guys lined Woolrich sweatshirts). The linens all looked scary scratchy, though I guess if you are looking for some sheets for your air mattress, it might be an option.
They had a metric ton of Christmas crap, which does a Jew like me no good but might be worth checking out if you need wrapping paper or other Christmas supplies. The store was so Christ-mafied, in fact, I could not find a single solitary roll of non Jesus loving wrapping paper in the whole place (*slightly frustrating).
All the cashiers were pretty darn chipper, esp. considering all of the annoying shoppers like me who were milling around.
Ok, so I guess on a scale of 1 - 10 I'd give DII a: 5.5
If you need socks, def check it out.
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Reader Comments (7)
are you giving it 5.5 as a general shopping experience or as a dollar store? reason that i ask is that most dollar stores score at a 2 as a general shopping experience, so 5.5 is pretty great! have you been to any of the other dollars on 5th ave? you should go to them and then go back to DII because i think you feel like you just stepped into Barneys after being in some of the other less clean and less well stocked stores (where by the way, you would hardly call the staff chipper). my guess is that you will return.
The place is an eyesoar. I would never venture in. I would never support them. I hate that I live so close to that dump.
@Anon 12:15pm: I was thinking a 5.5 based on shopping experience overall. I don't frequent many dollar stores and rarely venture east on 5th ave (though I do love Target/Marshalls, etc). Again, I would hit this place up when: I need to buy toys/crap for presents/bday parties; I run out of socks.
@Arock: I hear you...but I don't do laundry enough and $1.00 for a 3 pack of socks is the reason why...
Ah, so this is the demo for this blog: people who shop at dollar stores. With a name like Fucked in Park Slope, I thought it would be a little more edgy. You just meant fucked financially.
C'mon--get your ass into one of our fine, neighborhood Botanicas or social clubs. Interview the wacko who's selling all the stuff tied to the storefront on 5th Ave. Then you'll have something to write about.
Or put another way: if the store you're reviewing is available to almost anyone in all of our 50 states, do you REALLY need to review it for us?
Saw you on nyshitty and I think the blog has great potential. Needs some tweaking, but you can make it. Fight the good fight and go all in.
Oh, good idea David--no poor people allowed! (you guys getting this, FIPS?) This store just opened up --it's only the 2nd one in brooklyn according to the website. This is about all I can afford right now, so if I'm still welcome here (?) I've got no problem with reviews of discount stores.
Riiiight. That's what I said.
My comment was about the fact that there are dollar stores everywhere, and reviewing them seems like a waste of fun blog space, when there's a lot of stuff specific to Park Slope which would be a lot more interesting to read.
Tell you what, anono-hole, just twist my words around whichever way you like, and write your sarcastic responses. It's good exercise for when you yell at a cabbie after he's already driven away.
@David: Ok, fair enuf...thanks for your feedback (really!). Though, also this blog is literally two weeks old, yo! We def want to hit up lots more interesting Park Slope retail hot (and not so hot) spots, so if there was anyplace in particular you were thinking of, let us know.
@anon: poor people are *totally* still welcome here.