five-and-dime

noun

ˌfīv-ən-ˈdīm 

variants or less commonly five-and-ten

ˌfīv-ən-ˈten 

plural five-and-dimes also five-and-tens

: a retail store that carries a variety of chiefly inexpensive merchandise

When I was a little girl you could still buy things at the five-and-dime.

—Nikki Giovanni

But most five-and-dimes faded away, done in by competition from big box stores, or failure to adapt to changing tastes quickly enough.

—Carl Nolte

After the grocery store came the five-and-ten, a rambling, comfortable hodgepodge of unrelated items and scents.

—Lee Ebler

Word History

Etymology

from the fact that all articles in such stores were formerly priced at either 5 or 10 cents

First Known Use

1880, in the meaning defined above