How to Start a Dollar Store: A Complete Wholesale Sourcing Guide
What to stock, how case packs work, how to calculate margin at fixed price points, and a practical opening range for a new discount store.
Wholesale Guides
Wholesale Buying Guides
Practical, no-nonsense sourcing advice for retailers, dollar store operators and bulk buyers — written by the team at JMD All Star Impex Inc. from more than 30 years of wholesale distribution.
These wholesale buying guides distill what actually moves the needle when you buy by the case: pack sizes, minimums, seasonal timing, and which categories earn their shelf space. Whether you are opening your first store or refining a range you have run for years, start here before you place your next order.
Wholesale Buying Guide: Case Packs, Minimums and Bulk Pricing Explained
The vocabulary and mechanics of buying wholesale — case packs, MOQs, landed cost, price breaks and terms — explained plainly for retailers new to bulk purchasing.
The Best Wholesale Product Categories for Convenience Stores
Non-food categories that consistently justify shelf space in convenience retail, and how to think about space, margin and turnover when choosing between them.
Wholesale Christmas Supplies: A Retailer’s Sourcing Guide
Why holiday buying happens in summer, how to plan a Christmas range that sells through, and what to avoid carrying into January.
Wholesale Winter Products: Stocking Your Store for the Cold Season
Cold-weather categories that sell, when the wholesale buying window actually opens, and why winter stock is a lower-risk seasonal buy than Christmas.
How to buy wholesale by the case
Wholesale buying starts with unit economics. A case price only looks cheap until you divide it by sellable units, factor in freight from Piscataway, New Jersey, and account for shelf velocity. Our rule of thumb: rank every SKU by profit per square foot per week, not by margin percentage alone. Fast-moving household and cleaning lines at modest margins routinely outperform slow exotic lines at high margins. Browse the full range in our wholesale shop and compare case configurations before committing to depth.
Dollar store and discount retail buying
Dollar stores, 99-cent stores and discount retailers live on price architecture: every item must land at a price point after freight, shrink and labor. Buy proven high-velocity categories — cleaning supplies, personal care, kitchen consumables, stationery and seasonal goods — and keep 70 percent of open-to-buy in replenishment lines. Read our dedicated playbook for wholesale supply for dollar stores.
Seasonal buying calendar
Order seasonal goods one selling season ahead: Valentine and spring lines in late fall, summer and outdoor in winter, back-to-school in spring, and holiday inventory by early fall. Clearance from the prior season should be negotiated as fill-in, never as your core buy. Because we stock more than 2,000 live lines in our New Jersey warehouse, reorders on proven sellers ship fast even at peak.
Buying for New Jersey and New York retailers
Local retailers across New Jersey and the New York metro can combine frequent smaller drops instead of one large monthly order, keeping shelves full without tying up cash. See our pages for wholesale distribution in New Jersey and wholesale distribution for New York and NYC, or call (732) 287-0123 to plan a mixed-case order.
Wholesale buying questions, answered
What is a typical minimum order? Minimums vary by category and are set at case level — contact us and we will build a mixed case that meets the threshold without dead stock.
Can I mix products in one case? Yes, on most lines. Mixed cases are the simplest way to test new categories with minimal risk.
How fast is delivery? In-stock lines leave our Piscataway warehouse within 1–2 business days; get freight quotes at checkout or by phone.
More answers live on our FAQ page.
Have a sourcing question we haven’t covered?
Call (732) 287-0123 or contact our wholesale team — we are happy to advise on range planning even before you place an order.