There was usually an aura of Street Crazy to them, and an altercation wasn't worth minimum wage.

There was a Dollar Store a few blocks down the Ave. Everything sold for a dollar, pretty much. Sure, there were some items for more than a dollar, but it was still cheap knock-off shit, so the store name was pretty fair overall. Except if you tried to pay with a dollar bill you couldn't get your item until you put out another dime for sales tax. But still: Dollar Store.

In front of the store was a continuous encampment of Street Urchins and Heroin Kids. At times the sidewalk was difficult to pass: bodies sprawled, clusters of kids standing in groups with backs heavy with their belongings, the gauntlet of being asked for spare change or a cigarette or an offer to sell some grass. 

A lot of people chose to walk by on the other side of the street. Especially the Asian students; they probably never factored this into their American University Experience. Not on the brochures I imagine. And there was a Bubble Tea place on that other side of the street. Which was convenient for them, really.

The Dollar Store closed about a year ago. The consensus in the bar was two things: an increase in the lease price, and shoplifting. Which are pretty much the two factors that most businesses on the Ave have to deal with.

The items sold in the Dollar Store were typically small in size: easy to be slipped into a duffel bag or bulky coat. And most store workers did not want to confront a Street Urchin or Heroin Kid about a suspected theft: there was usually an aura of Street Crazy to them, and an altercation wasn't worth minimum wage.

So items walked out the store, and were sold for spare change a few blocks down. It takes the sales of a lot of dollar trinkets to get your heroin money, so the shoplifting was pretty intense. Then the Dollar Store closed. Which was tough on the people who actually bought things there. 

An older guy at the bar on Social Security used to buy his cat's food at the Dollar Store, to feed his beloved cat in the bedroom he rented at a worn-out house. I bought him a blanket once, after finding out he slept in a sleeping bag on his bed and was still cold. Now he had to go to Safeway, where the cat food was a lot more than a dollar. 

Plus sales tax.



- james james

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