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Summary

I Went To Toronto's Huge New Dollarama & Was Surprised By How Much Variety It Has (PHOTOS)

I could not believe the RANGE.

Dollarama entrance. Right: Rhythm Sachdeva inside the store.

Dollarama entrance. Right: Rhythm Sachdeva inside the store.

Associate Editor

The views expressed in this Opinion article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.


Dollarama has had my back on more than one occasion. I used its cheap products to decorate my dorm room back when I first moved to Canada in 2016, and have now become a pretty regular shopper, recommending Dollarama hacks and finds to anyone who'll listen.

It's a great weekly go-to for cheap shopping in Toronto, but it's always been pretty standard in terms of what to expect. So, when some of my friends told me about a fancy new Dollarama in Toronto's west end, I was definitely intrigued.

The discount store's newest location has already gotten a rave review on Google since it first opened in the vacant unit below a Metro supermarket at 1230 Queen St. W. about three weeks ago.

So I decided to go check it out and was pleasantly surprised. Here are five things about my trip that blew my mind:

The Dollarama finds at this location were legit

\u200bNotebook at Dollarama. Right: Home decorations at Dollarama.

Notebook at Dollarama. Right: Home decorations at Dollarama.

Rhythm Sachdeva | Narcity

From purple unicorn-themed gift bags to cute vanity trays made from bamboo, I was blown away by the number of unique finds I discovered in this Dollarama.

I also found little bunny-themed Easter buckets, a magnifying glass with LED lights, a portable make-up mirror with its own vanity lighting, multi-coloured folders that looked like little envelopes and even a rainbow succulent diffuser!

I wanted to buy everything. One of my favourite sections was their bathroom organizers, with countless options of plastic and non-plastic containers, all in cute shapes that could class up anyone's bathroom storage. I also loved their picturesque notebooks with oil paintings as covers!

The range of the stock was amazing

Fake flowers in Dollarama. Right: Vases.

Fake flowers in Dollarama. Right: Vases.

Rhythm Sachdeva | Narcity

I'm still reeling about this one. I know you're probably thinking that ALL Dollaramas have a good range, but this one would impress even the most skeptical shoppers.

And it wasn't just the range of regular products that was impressive but the range of relatively obscure ones. Looking for a vase for your flowers or plants? Treat yourself to various glass, ceramic, plastic and metal options, all in several shapes, sizes and colours. And they were cute!

Dozens of big and small gift bags in so many unique designs were available. And finally, the fake plants section was a thing of beauty. I'm not usually a fake plant girl myself, but the range of their flowers available was making me seriously reconsider.

The aisles were so so wide

Aisles in Dollarama.

Aisles in Dollarama.

Rhythm Sachdeva | Narcity

So, any Dollarama frequenter would know what a big deal it is. The most stressful part of shopping at these stores for me is finding a way to shop from an aisle without bumping into anyone else or being able to subtly slide away with my cart without any accidents.

But, in this Dollarama, this problem is a thing of the past. The aisles in this store could fit anywhere from five to ten people very comfortably and maybe even leave room for a couple more. It made my shopping experience feel so much more relaxed.

Very few $1 dollar products to be found

Make-up mirror. Right: Zen moments drawing book.

Make-up mirror. Right: Zen moments drawing book.

Rhythm Sachdeva | Narcity

So, this was one of the first things I noticed at this store as I browsed. The average price of most products in this store was from $3.50 to $5, in my estimation.

Since I like most of their stock, it didn't bother me as much, but the original appeal of Dollarama's $1 products definitely wasn't respected in this store.

It's almost as massive as a supermarket

\u200bDollarama interiors.

Dollarama interiors.

Rhythm Sachdeva | Narcity

​No amount of pictures could do justice to how MASSIVE this Dollarama was. It just kept going and going, and I would've needed at least an hour or more to properly inspect all of the aisles at this store. 

I felt like I was in a supermarket, where incidentally, I always spend several hours each time. 

  • Associate Editor

    Rhythm Sachdeva (she/her) was a Toronto-based Associate Editor at Narcity Media. She has previously reported for CTV News, The Canadian Press, the Toronto Star and the Times of India, where she published several A1 features and breaking news stories for national audiences. Rhythm graduated from the University of Toronto with an honours bachelor of arts degree in journalism and also holds a graduate certificate in contemporary journalism from Centennial College. At university, she was the managing editor of her campus magazine, The Underground. She's passionate about writing about the diverse immigrant community in Toronto and is always on the hunt for unique human interest stories.

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