Who is Afraid of $5 or less?

Who Is Afraid of a Store That Wants to Help?

We have been trying to open a small local business built around a very simple idea: $5 or Less.

The concept is exactly what the name says. We want to create a place where people can walk through the door knowing that the everyday merchandise offered under the $5 or Less concept will actually be affordable — five dollars or less.

It isn't about creating another corporate discount chain. It isn't about filling shelves with identical mass-produced merchandise and sending the profits somewhere else.

It is about creating a small, locally operated business where affordability is part of the purpose.

We want the person with $100 in their pocket to enjoy shopping there, but we also want the person with only $5 to be able to walk through the door without feeling that there is nothing there for them.

That matters to us.

And yet, as we have tried to bring this concept to life, we keep running into walls.

Most recently, after working through the details of a lease and preparing to move forward, the property owners decided they no longer wanted us as tenants.

They have every right to decide who they lease their property to. We understand that.

But it leaves us asking a bigger question:

What, exactly, are people afraid of?

Is it the $5 or Less concept?

Is affordability somehow threatening?

Is it the idea that someone should be able to walk into a store with only a few dollars and still have choices?

Or is there simply a misunderstanding about what we are trying to create?

We are not trying to hurt existing businesses. We are not trying to take anything away from anyone. We want to open a business, pay rent, purchase goods and services, pay taxes, create jobs as we grow, and become part of the community.

And yes, we want to help people while doing it.

Those two things do not have to be mutually exclusive.

A business can make money without squeezing every possible dollar out of every transaction. A business can be profitable and still decide that part of its identity is making sure ordinary people can afford what is on its shelves.

Look around.

Families are stretching their grocery money. Seniors are watching every dollar. Working people are paying more for housing, food, insurance, utilities and virtually everything else.

Five dollars matters.

Sometimes five dollars is spending money. Sometimes it is all someone has left until payday.

Why shouldn't there be a store that remembers that?

We aren't asking anyone for a handout.

We aren't asking for free rent.

We aren't asking the community to finance our business.

We are asking for the opportunity to open the doors and prove that $5 or Less can work.

These materials were prepared for our planned opening/event at the location we expected to occupy. The lease did not ultimately proceed, and $5 or Less is not operating at this address.

If the community embraces the concept, it succeeds.

If the community doesn't, it doesn't.

That is how a business should be judged.

But first, someone has to be willing to let us open the door.

So, we have a question for our community:

Who is afraid of $5 or Less — and why?

Maybe we're wrong. Maybe there is no resistance to the concept at all. If that's the case, we'd be delighted to be proven wrong. We simply need someone willing to give $5 or Less the opportunity to open its doors.

And if there is a property owner out there who isn't afraid of an unconventional idea, who believes that affordability and business can coexist, and who would like to see what $5 or Less could become, we would very much like to hear from you.

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