Western New Yorkers love their dollar stores. But veteran dollar store shoppers have carved out their own “must buy” and “I’ll pass” items.

“They have very comparable items you can get cheaper than anywhere else,” said Rocco Borilla of North Tonawanda.

His brother, Michael, agreed.

“You can get Arrid deodorant for a buck, aftershave, paper towels,” he said. “They’ve got Oral-B toothbrushes four for $1. Other places you’ll pay two bucks each.”

Ann and Joe Notaro of North Buffalo visit dollar stores “once in a blue moon.” But when they do, they stock up on $1 Pace brand salsa ($2.50 elsewhere), Animal Crackers (compared with $1.99) and automotive supplies such as fuel injection cleaner ($4.39 other places).

Jim Cammelleri of Kenmore homes in on gadgets, disposable plates and plastic cutlery.

“You get a wine opener for a buck that would cost you $12 in the store. If it breaks, you just throw it away,” he said.

Janice Walek of Cheektowaga spent a lot of time shopping dollar stores before she retired from teaching in Clarence Center. The stores had the best prices she’d found on decorations, party supplies, rewards, crafts, stickers and notebooks.

“It’s teacher heaven,” Walek said.

Nancy Kohler from Clarence buys small jewelry boxes to supply her jewelry- making business, Beach and Bead Creations. She also loves their book sections and crossword puzzles.

If you’re still looking for your dollar store favorites, here are a few of the best buys we’ve found:

Gift wrap. Wrapping paper for just about every occasion can be found in good quality and at a significant savings over full-priced stores. A 12.5-square-foot roll of wedding or birthday paper costs just $1, but would run at least twice that, or up to $4.99 elsewhere.

Paper gift bags are a huge score. They come in various sizes, colors and styles—many with licensed characters such as Hannah Montana and the Disney princesses—and beat regular store prices by far. Sure, some gift bags start at just $2 or $3, but larger ones can cost upward of $10 elsewhere!

Bows, ribbon (nine feet) and tissue paper (40 sheets) are generally a steal, too. Multipacks of Scotch tape are often available, but contain less yardage of product. You’ll still save but just by a few pennies.

Stationery. Greeting cards might be the best bargain of all. Most stores have several stocked aisles to choose from, charging just 50 cents per card—even for ones that play music. Compare that with $2.99 and up.

Better yet, packages of invitations and thank you cards run eight for $1, as opposed to $3.50 and up elsewhere.

Party supplies. Napkins, plates, bowls, plastic cutlery, streamers, balloons and other decorations. It’s all there, and it’s all cheap. Good thing, too, because it’s all going to end up in the garbage.

Cleaning and household products. You will find some name brand products, such as Spic n’ Span spray cleaner and Air Wick spray air freshener. O-Cel-O Scrub sponges are roughly half price. But most dollar store cleaning products bear names you won’t recognize. Still, most have gotten high marks from product reviewers.

Some of the savings come from more diluted concentrations or the inclusion of fewer units, but are still worth their price—especially when compared with stores’ private label brands. Just pay close attention to unit prices to spot any major disparities. After all, $1 for 10 kitchen garbage bags seems like an unbeatable deal until you realize you can get 30 at the supermarket for $1.99.

Books. While the selection is limited, you can often find recognizable titles (“Chicken Soup for the Soul,” anyone?) in both paperback and hardcover books at well under their bookstore price.

Children’s books come in a more plentiful assortment, and at $1 apiece, you can stock a child’s whole library for the price of two or three full-priced selections elsewhere. Kids will find all their favorite characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Barney. Coloring books and jigsaw puzzles abound, too.

At a great savings, parents can snap up collections of crossword, word search and sudoku puzzles (even in large print), as well as Bibles, thesauruses and dictionaries.

But it isn’t all about the price. There are other things to keep in mind when making dollar store decisions:

Beware of look-a-likes. The label on Riverton Valley Ranch salad dressing looks suspiciously identical to the one on Hidden Valley Ranch. Power Stick deodorant, with its sleek black packaging and blue swirl, could easily be mistaken for AXE Dry. It would also be easy to confuse Powerhouse shower cleaner with Scrubbing Bubbles and Pine Glo floor cleaner with Pine Sol.

You still need to comparison shop. Not everything is a deal, even at $1. You might assume that 79 cents for Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix is a sure bargain. But it retails for just 49 cents at the supermarket.

What NOT to buy

While there are tremendous savings to be had at dollar stores, there may be some items you want to skip.

In the September 2009 edition of ShopSmart from Consumer Reports, the magazine sent its safety czar Donald Mays to a local dollar store, where he found what he deemed to be several potentially hazardous items.

Among them were tiki torches that caught fire in places they weren’t supposed to, utility lighters that wouldn’t turn off and novelty lighters that looked like toys and could easily appeal to children.

Past ShopSmart research also found problems with:

Vitamins: Some multivitamins didn’t have the same nutritional values advertised on their labels.

Medications: When surveying stores, the magazine found expired medications and some that were likely to expire shortly after being brought home.

Electrical items: Perhaps most frightening, ShopSmart found electrical products such as lamps and extension cords that had fake UL labels, which are used to certify safety. Such items could easily overheat and cause a fire, putting your entire home and family at risk, the magazine said.

Jewelry: Though the pieces most recently tested by ShopSmart were below the new legal limits for lead, millions of pieces of kids’ jewelry were infamously recalled in years past for high lead content. The magazine warned that old jewelry could still be on shelves.

Toys and party favors: ShopSmart found bubble solution sold in what looked like soda and baby bottles that might encourage kids to drink them. Worse, some trinkets and toys were clear choking hazards but weren’t labeled as such.

To check for safety, the group suggests taking an empty toilet paper roll with you when shopping. Any toys or parts that can fit through the roll pose a choking hazard for children 3 years old and younger.

The New York Public Interest Research Group has found improperly labeled choking and strangulation hazards year after year in its annual Trouble in Toyland report. The group also has found consistently unlawful levels of lead, chlorine, cadmium, arsenic, mercury and bromine in several toys. Those toxins have been linked to hampered development, birth defects and cancer.

To be safest, you can buy your own at-home lead-testing kit for as little as $10 on the Internet or at discount department and hardware stores. You can use it to test just about anything children might put into their mouths, such as pacifiers, cups, even pens and toothbrushes.

Consumables: Looking back at the Chinese toothpaste scandal from three years ago, in which toothpaste containing a chemical found in antifreeze was infamously sold at dollar stores, you’ll want to be extra cautious when buying anything that will be ingested by you, your family or your pets.

You’ll want to stick to name brands you know and trust (and can hold accountable) and check expiration dates for safety and peak freshness.