Del Ray Variety

This store is closing :(
Also has new hours–
Weds-​Fri 10a-​7p
Sat-​Sun 9a-​7p
Closed Monday & Tuesday

Friendly staff, great variety of sensible (laundry rope, household things), toys and cute tchtochkies. A big parking lot too! Who could ask for anything more! Like walking into a wonderful time warp. Variety stores were the joy of my youth. You could get anything there and the clerks knew you by name and knew what you liked. Well… here is one again!

Love this place– it had a lot more useful stuff than I thought it would! It’s actually a convenient place to run instead of the grocery store when you need something random for your house – cleaning supplies, light bulbs, a sewing kit, etc. They also have a nice selection of party supplies and toys. It’s really cute! I’ll definitely be back.

My boyfriend had seen this place in passing a few times, but has never gone in. (He was waiting to go with me… aww.) He said it reminded him of a five and dime from the looks of it, which we both think is pretty cool. We finally got the chance to go and it was really cool!
It did remind me of a five and dime in the sense that it carried a variety of items (so, aptly named… good on you, Del Ray Variety) at reasonable prices. But it definitely had a modern twist to everything as well. They carried a lot of classic items (general household goods, cleaners, etc) but also had a lot of modern names when it came to the kids items.
Strolling through the aisles just to look was really fun. They had a lot of things I hadn’t seen in a long time! There were so many classic candies! Bubblegum cigars, candy cigarettes, you name it! There were also a bunch of candies that I didn’t recognize, so I’ll have to come back and try them out. I really liked their «vintage» collection of toys, which included monster figure kits that were around in the 60s. I didn’t know they had rebooted it! They also had cute retro lunchboxes and the like.
I’d say about 80% of the store is dedicated to kids goods and toys. However, I don’t have a kid and I still thought it was nice to just walk around and see what they had. Plus, a lot of the stuff in the «kids sections» could definitely be appropriate for kids at heart. ;)
I docked a star from this place because the employee we interacted with was quite rude. After ignoring our «hello» and attempt to get her attention (she looked right at us, from not even a foot away… there was no way she didn’t see us), she headed straight for another woman that looked to be her friend. They were just shooting the breeze, talking about families and mutual friends and the like. Nothing to do with the store at all. Aside from this experience, though, it was a good visit. I’ll still be back to see what other goodies they have in stock soon, though I’d rather wander the aisles myself then make the mistake of trying to ask for assistance again.

I like the idea of a variety store and browsing was more fun than expected. With the mass consumption focus of large retailers, they have many items that you probably can only get online or through a special order catalog these days. Much of the store is devoted to children — educational games, costumes, water play accessories, but they also have a large selection of party supplies and balloons (much better selection and higher quality than dollar store balloons) for various types of events, craft materials, gardening accessories, and a whole lot of other random stuff! They have little kids carts, and the kids in the store were excited about their selections. I am sure you can find something unique here. This will be my new go-​to spot for gifts, especially for the children in my life.

Love this little old-​fashioned variety store. Party supplies, craft supplies, holiday decorations, candy, home goods, etc., etc. And the service is great and friendly. On one visit there was some confusion about the price of one of the items I was purchasing as it was not scanning correctly, which led to me having to wait a few minutes at the register while that got sorted out. Not a big deal at all, but one of the owners who was checking me out was SO apologetic and insisted on giving me an item for free. Lovely addition to the neighborhood.

We wandered in here one Friday evening and it felt like an old fashioned variety story — only very clean and very bright. We got halloween candy, some artsy-​craftsy supplies and school notebooks here. They have tons of stuff and it would be very hard to get out of this store without finding something you like. And totally wheelchair accessible, including the bathroom!

My best friend Adrienne W and I wandered into this store and found heaven.
It was like a trip to Target (aka: the best place on Earth), condensed into a friendly, locally-​owned neighborhood shop. We spent about an hour wandering through the aisles, squealing in delight at all of the random but useful items they sold at semi-​decent prices (meaning, a little bit more expensive than Target but nothing to get squeamish about).
If you need: embroidery thread/​glitter glue/​deodorant/​vintage wooden toys/​penny candy/​plastic dinosaurs/​a piñata/​all-​natural bath wash/​kindergarten nap pad/​non-​brand name Tupperware/​school supplies/​socks/​underwear/​a reindeer that poops out coal colored candy… the Del Ray Variety Store is for you.
This is a wonderful place to let your kids roam around and choose a special prize for being quiet during church.
The only thing that was missing was Wally and Beaver Cleaver running through the aisles.

I love this little store. It has so many things I didn’t know I needed before I walked in, and great options for parties and children’s gifts that allow you to skip the big box stores. And the candy, while a constant temptation to my kids, allows me to buy them one or two pieces without filling them up with sugar so I don’t feel to bad. A great addition to the neighborhood.

Finally made it in to the store after driving past it for weeks, nice little variety store that’s got a little bit of everything, It’s the kind of place that can be a bit troublesome in that I’m sure I’ll be finding things that I didn’t know I couldn’t live without (as evidenced by my first visit), but it also helped remind me of some necessities that we actually NEEDED, just by seeing them on the shelf. Will be back for sure, if for no other reason than the party supply aisle.

This is just wrong to have one of these places so close to me. Granted, they didn’t have EVERYTHING that I was searching for (looking for non-​breaking container for my homemade scrub), but they did have quite a bit of stuff! Which brings me to wonder, how in the world did our little hood survive without one of these stores all this time?
It has a great variety of kids’ toys and stuff. Some gardening stuff. Some crafts stuff. Basic underwear stuff. Socks. Stuff. Stuff stuff. And oh, if you’re hungry, you can get some sweet stuff.
It’s not like the five-​n-​dime Deals in Media PA, but when I walked out of the store I also did not feel like I needed an oxygen tank. It’s spacious, walkable, and a couple of strollers came in while I was in midst of my container search. Kids definitely like it, and I can totally see myself diving in here every so often to pick up something or other without the crowds and lines.