Up until the middle of the last century, the F.W. Woolworth Co. really did have some items priced for 10 cents or even less. When Dodd’s Five & Dime branched out to the Forest Lake Shopping Center in the mid–’50s, the store still had 10–cent items. Inflation since then has brought along the dollar stores, and even then it’s hard not to stock items up to $5.

The new Village Dollar Shoppe at 803 Meeting Street in West Columbia has its own twist on the type, but it holds its price maximum to $5. Situated next door to the Cameo Art Gallery and across the street from What–A–Burger, the Village Dollar Shop has shared traffic much to its advantage.

The owner of the Village Dollar Shoppe is also its manager, Donna Freeman, who lives nearby in the Saluda Mill neighborhood overlooking the Saluda River.

Donna Freeman was born in the Columbia Hospital at the corner of Harden Street and Hampton Street. Her father was an air–conditioning contractor on the ground level with what became Midland Air.

After six years at Belvedere Elementary, Freeman went to Wardlaw Junior High, and she graduated from Columbia High School when it was at the corner of Marion Street and Washington Street. The Richland County Public Library was next door.

Freeman went to Midlands Tech for an associate’s degree in business administration, and she took that directly into the working world.

She learned retail running the gift shop for the Gwinnett Place Marriott, just northeast of Atlanta.

Returning to Columbia, Freeman worked for Congressman Joe Wilson, then a state senator. After a few years in Wilson’s office, Freeman branched out and formed her own lobbying firm.

Through it all, though, Freeman always wanted to run her own retail shop. She did her homework, kept on the Internet and kept in conversations. She opened Village Dollar Shoppe last July. Freeman’s assistant manager is her son, Jim Huffman, and her daughter, Adrienne Huffman, is helping with the store’s Web site. Daughter Adrienne is the executive director of the State Museum Foundation, which puts her office down the street inside the museum, conveniently close to the Village Dollar Shoppe.

What does Freeman stock in the store? Just about everything: Christmas decorations, gift wrap, greeting cards, wine bags, seasonal merchandise, toiletries, cleaning supplies, toys, porcelain china, paper goods, school and office supplies, baby products, candy, snacks and cookies, and the like. Also, Freeman puts together affordable gift bags with a presentation well above the $15 price, a service not found at any other dollar store in town, she says.

The Village Dollar Shoppe, 803 Meeting Street, is open six days a week from 9 am until 6 pm.