Dollar Tree Tiks!!!!!!

Wow, Just got the tip off on this, and I figured I'd share it with everyone, At the "Dollar Tree" chain of dollar stores they have small (4 to 5 in) tikis, they are similar to Coco joes, or other "Lava/Hapawood"figurines, but these are resin of some sort, We have been told that there are ten different ones, we found 8 different ones, gotta find the other two,
They are cool, cheap (just a buck ya cheap bastards!! LOL) and well detailed, if ya dont have a dollar tree in your neck o the woods let me know and I'll go pick some up for ya...!
For a buck how can you go wrong

Hey thanks for the heads up. I've never been to Dollar Tree before but damn, they had some interesting stuff! And everything's just a buck!

These tikis are pretty cool in a kitschy way. They actually measure 6-7" high and it looked like they were flying off the shelf as 80% of their designated shelf area was empty. I managed to find seven different styles. They're definately more whimsical than traditional, especially the ones that have two tikis per statue, but well designed.

I also bought several bundles of bamboo at a dollar per bundle and a wicker wastebasket. Yup, a dollar. They had some other tropical items as well: fake palm fronds, fake live bamboo, ceramic conch shells, real sea shells etc.

Thanks for the tip; much as with the TJ Maxx stuff, I enjoyed the hunt as much as the prize. I only found eight of these though. How reliable is your information that there are ten?

I also stopped at a nearby Dollar Tree store - I think these tikis are pretty cool, especially for a buck. I may go back and try to buy more - it would be neat to be able to hand a free tiki to the kids of some of my friends when they visit.

The clerk here (in Northern VA) also said these things were selling like crazy, and they have only been on the shelves for less than a week.

My Dollar Tree also had some pretty realistic looking resin palm trees. These stand about 6 inches tall, have translucent water, and some of the coconuts are brown, and some of them are green. They had about 6-7 different varieties of these palm trees - also for $1 each. I think these will look great as a background edge behind or besides some of my other tiki stuff.

I also got some real bamboo placemats, and some kitchen/bar towels with palm trees on them - again, only $1 each.

Oh, I stopped at a thrift and found a video of the 1979 Linda Blair film 'Roller Boogie - damn thrift charged me $3 for it.

Vern

On 2004-03-22 18:18, tikijackalope wrote:
Thanks for the tip; much as with the TJ Maxx stuff, I enjoyed the hunt as much as the prize. I only found eight of these though. How reliable is your information that there are ten?

I hit another Dollar Tree today (I've got like eight of 'em in a seven mile radius) and picked up one more style for a total of eight. Four single tikis, a double with a small tiki on top of a large, a double with a small one in front of a large, a double with two side by side and a triple with 3 side by side. I feel geeky.

What's cool about Dollar Tree is it's cheaper than a thrift store and the junk is new and doesn't smell funky.

I've got the seven shown in Kono's photo along with the group of three on one base. Be careful with these things; I noticed in a couple of broken ones that the resin is pretty thin. One of the stores had a nice display of tikis, plates, toothpick holders, place mats, silverware and those palm trees.

Seems that my informant was wrong, He actually told me that he picked up eght of them, they do seem to be going like hotcakes... Nice cool cheap stuff!

I just snagged some this evening. There weren't many left. Pretty good quality for a buck! The photo isn't great, but neither is my digital camera!

Anybody remember "Trilogy of Terror" with Karen Black? These little guys kinda remind me of that movie. Was that a tiki?

Where are these Dollar Tree stores? Any in S. Cal?

Thanks for the $1 tiki tip. Go to http://www.dollartree.com and then go to their location page. Type in your zip code and they give you store locations in a 50 mile radius. I found tons of stores by me too! I am off tomorrow for the $1 tiki hunt.

tj

Kono said

I feel geeky.

Worry not. Geeky is when you sort all of the tikis in a Dollar Tree into their types and then choose one of each based on appearance and how straight they stand while the clerk and the other customers look at you funny. Odd thing was, I wasn't even self-concious.

SilverLine, your photo is perfect and very useful as a checklist; I have the same ones. You asked:

Anybody remember "Trilogy of Terror" with Karen Black? These little guys kinda remind me of that movie. Was that a tiki?

I think its supposed to be a Zuni doll, but thanks for reminding me of that movie before I go to bed in a house full of action figures, store window automations and tikis with bared teeth that I'd swear are multiplying...and I think I hear KCtiki's owl people outside.

[ Edited by: tikijackalope on 2004-03-23 02:49 ]

Wow! This was an even better score than the T.J. Maxx Suffering Bastard's! These tikis work wonderfully filling in the blank spots on my mug shelf! I hadn't felt that giddy about buying something in years and I actually contemplated camping out in the parking lot until they opened! I even pulled out the phone book and lined up another store to hit if my local Dollar Tree was sold-out but I didn't have to play that card! Thanks for the tip Rustbeltcat!

Coming soon: Own your own Zuni fetish doll (WHY?)
http://www.majesticstudiosinc.com/zuni.html

Are sea monkeys tiki-compatible? http://www.majesticstudiosinc.com/news3.html

I made the short 3 mile trip to Dollar Tree. Cool tikis, but I didn't buy any. I saw one on the shelf that someone broke, and being the curious one I inspected it to see what they were made of. They are hollow inside (unlike Coco Joe's) and they are made of a grey plastic sprayed with brown(ish) paint.

Also...previous Zuni Doll/Trilogy of Terror chatter.

I like those Dollar Tree tikis. They look especially nice in the Land of No Tiki's (N. Texas). They are selling really fast. My local Dollar Tree doesn't have many left and who knows if they'll ever get them in again. It seems to be a pretty hot item. I wanted to be sure I had a few on hand.

[ Edited by: Juno on 2004-03-23 11:17 ]

ahem..
holy cr*p!

You've got minions!
nice work :wink:

I like 'em.

stupid canadian dollar stores.

however, I was in a local one the other night. They must of had 75 different styles of cheap leis, all $1.50 each($1 US) Maybe I should get them for my tiki wedding this summer? Hand them out to all the guests as they arrive?

Anyhow, cool cheap tikis.

I found shelves of them here in a Milwaukee, WI store... I got 4 of them to start and the guy must have forgot to charge me for one... they are cooler and larger then I thought... definately worth a dollar...

Sadly, I live by a generic tiki free Dollar Store, but if anyone wants to trade a tiki for a hula girl I'm all ears.

I scored all 8 today. Had to go to 2 different stores. Some of them are really cool designs, others are just okay. (that can be said for coco joes or HIP too).

Glad I picked them up. They had some cool cheap dishes, towels, placemats, etc. I bought two nice bamboo baskets that will be good for flower pots.

Kinda nice when a fade is no loner popular and it hits the bargin stores. Dollar tree, marshalls, whats next?

Erich

That's hilarious - I love the ones which appear to be Tiki pals, giving each other a pat on the back. So, these 'Dollar Tree' places sell them at a buck each? Bargain.

Trader Woody

Wow, I never expected such a deluge of letters on this topic... Then again I never expected to find little tikis for a dollar.
Well hope everyone enjoys em, I think I'm gona take a trek over there this weekend to pick up a bunch more this way our freinds to the north can get em, as well as those in dollar tree free areas.

I went yesterday & didn't see them, so I asked & she had them still in the box on her cart ready to put out! So I got a fresh, unopened case to choose from - great score - great bargain!

Gotta head back over there to the store 1 mile from my house to see if they got the bamboo placemats out, yet - thouse sound pretty good...

:drink:

Where do you think these came from? For what purpose were they originally made? I can't imagine these fairly intricate molds were created just to churn out one dollar tikis for the Dollar Tree. The sticker says "Tradewind Bay" and "DOLLAR TREE DIST." Maybe they were made for someplace like Target or Hilo Hatties or the ABC stores and the deal fell through so they wind up at the Dollar Tree?

I never expected such a deluge of letters on this topic

THANK YOU for starting this thread! I would never have thought to look in Dollar Tree for anything tiki.
:drink:

They are way too cool to be going for a buck, though I'm not complaining. I would like to know who the artist is... I'm thinking they have to be from an island somewhere by the syle of carving. Thank you again for mentioning this... who would have thought... Dollar Tree... making tiki collecting affordable and thus upping my "TIPSY" factor!

I just picked up my Dollar Tree Tikis! Great collection of other tropical goods were part of the display. Dishes, bath accessories, hand towels, etc. They even had silk bamboo stalks with leaves for creating your own perpetual tropical arrangements.

Question. One of my Dollar Tiki figures appears to have a tiny name etched onto the front of the base - it says either Brad or Fread. This is the solitary figure, with a round head and what looks to be a music stand as a headpiece. Does anybody else's figure have this name on their figure, or was this an act of in-store vandalism.

I'm a bit amazed at this sudden appearance of these tiki figures all across America. The Dollar Tree chain has over 2000 stores, and I'm wondering if every one of them last week received a shipment of tiki figures to place on their shelves. Who ever handles their logistics and shipping must be doing a good job.

Did Dollar Tree commision and make these figures for themselves? Why aren't they making appearances in other stores?

Was there a manufacturing overun from somewhere else in the world?

Who carved the original designs? Was it some guy named Brad or Fred?

If these figurines sell well, will there be new designs and new shipments coming?

If they sell really, really well, will Dollar Tree change their name to Dollar Tiki?

Vern

On 2004-03-23 19:10, ikitnrev wrote: The Dollar Tree chain has over 2000 stores, and I'm wondering if every one of them last week received a shipment of tiki figures to place on their shelves.
NO!!! NOT MY DOLLAR TREE!!!! (I checked today, in a clever attempt to avoid going straight home in order to figure all my grades, due tomorrow. oops, like now.)

But I hold onto the hope that at my local store too, there is a still-unopened box, waiting......waiting......

And I want those bamboo placemats and stuff, too!

Question. One of my Dollar Tiki figures appears to have a tiny name etched onto the front of the base - it says either Brad or Fread. This is the solitary figure, with a round head and what looks to be a music stand as a headpiece. Does anybody else's figure have this name on their figure, or was this an act of in-store vandalism.

Mine has no such marking, but it does have many tiny vertical lines which, with a couple scratches added, could look like it says something.

First, I too want to thank you Rustbeltcat. I didn't even know we had those stores here.
You know with all of the different "dollar" type stores out there, I don't know one from the other. In fact, every time I have gone in one of those places to get something which will save me a longer trip to a hardware or grocery store, I wind up not finding what I wanted and having to go to the other store anyway. However, today I went to a Dollar Tree to check on these tikis and behold, there they were. Along with all of the other goodies everyone has mentioned. I grabbed a shopping cart and proceded to block the display with it because man, there were a lot of people showing interest and the guy setting up the display had just finished it. I was the first to get any of them and the empty boxes were still sitting there on the floor. Timing is everything! I got one of each of the 8 designs. As soon as I moved the cart, a woman started grabbing some for herself. We started talking at the checkout and come to find out she is from Hawaii and has been here about 5 years. I really should have asked her what she wanted to move to Missouri for!!! Anyway she had a lot of the stuff including tikis and full sets of the palm dishes and plates. She said they reminded her of home. We really held up the line because I insisted that the cashier wrap each one of the palms and tikis. She said:"they won't break, they're wood" So I told her no,not wood and they will break so wrap them seperately please. I recommend that you ask for that when you check out or you might get home with a sack of "tiki-crumbs". And if you wait to go get these, you might miss out altogether. I bet many stores will sell out by the end of the weekend! OK I will shut up now. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

YAY ~ i got 6 one buck tikis!

good tip about having stuff individually wrapped, my tikis are ok, but the ONE thing they did wrap (a frame) cracked. oh gosh, now i'll have to go and return it, and maybe find the last few tikis.

For those who haven't ventured out yet - be sure to check out the frame aisle - they've got a bunch of 5X7 frames made from various types of woven/tropical materials and they look great! Perfect size for framing beloved postcards in your bar!

Hey I wonder how long it will be till some of these little guys make it onto e-bay, minus the dollar tree tag of course, as "Vintage Tiki Figurines/Statues"
Bidding starts at 10 buck!
I give it about 2 months.....
lol

Try Yesterday!

Thanks so much for the tip about these tikis!!! I bought 5 of them the other day, and I noticed they also had some soaps that had hibiscus flowers and pineapples printed right on them, plus silverware with palm trees on the handles. I was also surprised to hear the tikis are "flying off the shelves" at other people's dollar tree stores, b/c at mine they are definately not selling. The cashier looked at me like I was crazy when I bought them.

Got some of these little guys. Thinking about making a 3-D tiki bar sign with them.

On 2004-03-24 17:28, Turbogod wrote:
Try Yesterday!

This guys even worse!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29460&item=3904510331

Ya know I was only half joking, I really got to say that its really sad that they are already on e-bay, I mean damn.....
Maybe I aught to put a link from the main page to this thread, so that all the other folks are aware of it...
oh well maybe not, I think most tc'ers would gladly hook someone up with these guys if they could.
Damn
5.99
I'm going to have to watch those auctions to see how they go.
J

$5.99 is a little steep...but keep in mind there are people that don't have a Dollar Tree anywhere near them and would gladly pay a few extra $$$ to get one of these. I bet most people on the west coast only paid a couple of bucks for their OMC Mr. Bali Hai...I'm embarrased to say what I paid for mine. :o

:drink:

[ Edited by: Juno on 2004-03-24 20:47 ]

True enough,
One would think that WC folks would ask others on the east coast or midwest if they could get them from another tcer, I mean how much is shipping on them, you could have the whole set for no more than 12 or 13 bucks if they asked...

yeah, THANKS rustbeltcat! i just got all 8 (there aren't any more are there?).

believe it or not, i was actually in a dollar tree months ago for whatever reason & took a walk through in search of tiki. didn't find anything & figured that was that.

btw, if there's anyone out there w/out dollar trees in your area, i'm willing to purchase the set for you, if you reimbuse me + $5 (maybe more for overseas) for postage. however, i can't promise that when i go back all 8 will be there, but there seemed to be plenty this morning.

aloha,
tiki chris

[ Edited by: Tiki Chris on 2004-03-25 16:56 ]

I'm ashamed to say that I'm getting on the Dollar Tree/Ebay bandwagon. I'd usually turn my nose up at such crass opportunism, but I'm just so broke right now. Here's my promise, though: If I don't sell them for my minimum bid, I'll make them available to a less fortunate Tiki Centralite at cost plus shipping. Fair enough?

Here's the auction, not so you can buy them at my ridiculously inflated price, but because I thought my description was slightly humorous:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3905161826&category=29460&sspagename=STRK%3AMESSE%3AIT&rd=1

[ Edited by: tikimaxton on 2004-03-25 19:08 ]

I was afraid that Juno might have snatched up all the $1.00 tikis in North Texas, judging by the picture. :) But I got my set of 8, too. They look damn awesome for only a buck apiece. Best tiki value of the year, in my humble opinion.

Three cheers for rustbeltcat!! This was a great post. I would have never looked at a Dollar Tree for tiki. Quite a bang for your buck. I got the set and then a set and then a set... Lots of ideas floating around in my head on what to do with these guys. If someone has other ideas or projects for these tikis, post them for all to see.

oh by the way... just saw that this is my 1 year membership anniversary to TC!! Its been a great year and hope for many more!
Mahalo!

tiki junkman

Congrats Tiki Junkman!

JUNO! Did you leave any tiki's for the rest of us? Jeeze man that's a legion of tiki!

JUNO! Did you leave any tiki's for the rest of us? Jeeze man that's a legion of tiki!

Hey...if we ever have a Dallas Tikiphiles meet I might just bring one for everyone who shows up. Now THAT's an incentive!

:drink: