?It?s about time,? was one of the first comments made to the management of Bermuda?s first bargain basement store ? the Dollar Depot when it opened on Wednesday.

The store, which sells everything for $2 a pop (except for some $10 pi?atas) has already been a big hit with customers with between 40 and 50 customers passing through its doors.

?It really has been a tremendous success,? said Gary Shuman, vice president of retail at the MarketPlace and the brains behind the scheme. ?Everyone has been saying there has been a big need for this kind of store.?

The store is owned by Claremont Ltd., the company that owns the MarketPlace chain of supermarkets, and is its first branch-out away from its core business. Based next to its sister store the MarketPlace in Heron Bay, the Dollar Depot is a small shop packed with hundreds of different items. The company has taken advantage of the fact that it leases the entire building and can afford to open the store next to its grocery operation at the site of the former ?Hands? craft store which has lain vacant for a while. The store sells an amazing range of goods from makeup to party favours, kitchen cleaners to baby booties, clothes to car cleaners, kitchen ware to jewellery. The shelves are packed as tightly with goods as the aisles are with customers ? who were yesterday filling shopping baskets with goods. ?We have 3,000 items in the store and have a choice of over 300,000 ? so what we have in is just one percent of what we could have in stock,? said Scott Carswell, vice president of administration at the MarketPlace. ?We intend to see what sells and keep a basic stock of that and rotate about 20 to 25 percent of the stock so there is always something new in store.?

And both Mr. Carswell and Mr. Shuman said that since they opened the store, they have had nothing but praise for the store and the items on the shelves. ?Sales in the US and Canada have proven that stores like this do well,? said Mr. Shuman. ?Almost everything is $2 and of good quality.?

And if it is a success, Mr. Shuman said it was possible that there could be a chain of Dollar Depot stores across Bermuda if they can find locations with reasonable rents and enough through-traffic.

?We have given it a few months to see how it is received, and then we will look at it again,? said Mr. Shuman. ?It has taken us almost a year from the initial research to find the proper location and line up all the suppliers and check them out.?

Mr. Shuman said that it was not possible to make it a $1 an item store because of the cost of shipping goods from Canada and the US and the rental costs for the premises.

And he said that they had to double check on the reliability of the suppliers because while if a wrong order went out in the States, it could be sent back and rectified in a few days, it could take weeks with shipping to Bermuda.

According to recent figures there are 18,000 dollar stores in the US, but most have upped their prices to $1.25 to account for inflation.