An indirect descendant of yesterday's 5 & 10 store are today's Dollar General and Family Dollar operations. Although differing greatly from a standard 5 & 10 of days gone by, the "dollar store" of the 21st century does carry a lot of the same type of merchandise...albeit within a much smaller footprint.

Whereas a typical 5 & 10 would have encompassed between 5,000 and 60,000 square feet -sometimes on 2 floors- today's typical Dollar General or Family Dollar envelops a modest 7,000 square feet, always on a single level.

Missing in the Dollar General and Family Dollar "small-box discount retail" concept are the trusty 5 & 10 luncheonette, front entrance candy counter (with clerk) and full-line electronics and record department. A 5 & 10-type pets department sold live fish and birds. In pre-PETA days, they would also carry white mice, monkeys, baby alligators and baby turtles.