One of these things is not like the other....

Every day on my way to/from work & the subway, I pass by a dollar store on Bloor street.

I don't really like dollar stores, not just because of the cheap quality of the merchandise, but because of the persistent, unique, offensive "dollar store smell". It's an olfactory explosion, present in every dollar store I've ever entered, reminiscent (Get it? ReminiSCENT?) of poverty, curry & sweat.

While attending university, I frequented dollar stores, along with every other cash-strapped student. Since living in Toronto, however, I think I've only set foot in one once: I blew a flip-flop at work one day and hoped to be able to locate a suitable, inexpensive replacement set of shoes, since I was on my way to a Jays game and didn't have access to any other functional footwear. Unfortunately, I was too revolted by the dollar-store's omnipresent odour to do any browsing and ended up using packing tape to McGuyver my busted flip-flops back together (I know what you're thinking, my ingenuity knows no bounds...you're very perceptive...).

The other day, I walked by the neighbourhood dollar store and noticed a big sign in the window indicating 50% off the ENTIRE store, with a few exceptions:

If you can't quite decipher this, it says, "Except: Drinks, Candies, African Products...etc."

What?!?

It's the "etc." that's throwing me off here. If you can explain to me the common thread between these 3 categories of items, it would be much appreciated. I've been wracking my brain and have been unable to come up with anything.

Interestingly, I walked by the store this morning and the sign was gone...either their big sale is over or they spied me, last week, surreptitiously snapping this pic and realized something was amiss.