Brave New Economy

Russian plastic bag—from a 35-ruble store

Yes: that's about $1, which makes Fixprice akin to a dollar store.

I don't know how many countries have shops on this theme, but we do live in a world full of cheap Chinese crap that keeps large segments marginally able to consume. In this country's hollowed out economy, plenty of shoppers already use dollar stores as the alternative to dog food.

Though Japan also has thousands of 100 yen shops by now, here's something on the vintage side: a Kyoto discount store logo from the 1980s.

Back then, "discount store" was still a novel idea in Japan.

As far as I can remember from my one visit, the store sold decent quality stuff. And the merchandise was not yet imported from the land of totalitarian capitalism.