5 and dime

[Le Chat]

What is "The 5 and Dime?" It is presumably American and is mentioned in Raspberry Beret by Prince, Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi. They all refer to working at the' five and dime.' What kind of store, restaurant is it?

[stoo_pid]

I think it's a bit like Pound World/Land/Stretcher etc.  I'm sure the bloke who started Woolworths had the first Five and Dime.  It basically started out as a bargain-basement type shop with things that weren't selling well being reduced to 5 & 10 cents.

[greenfingers]

The Five and Dime stores were Woolworths where everything cost 5 or 10 cents.Similarly  in Great Britain years ago things in Woolworths cost 3d and 6d ( three pence and six pence in pre decimal money.)

[SteveD]

And "Mary was an only Child" by Art Garfunkel:

 

Mary was an only child,
Nobody held her, nobody smiled.
She was born in a trailer, wretched and poor,
And she shone like a gem in a five and dime store.

Mary had no friends at all,
Just famous faces pinned to the wall.
All of them watched her, none of them saw
That she shone like a gem in a five and dime store.

And if you watch the stars at night,
And find them shining equally bright,
You might have seen Jesus and not have known what you saw.
Who would notice a gem in a five and dime store?