There’s something unprecedented going on at the Dollar Spot in Ohio City. You see, the West 25th Street store is having a sale. All items normally priced at $1 now cost 88 cents.

But here’s the rub: If there’s a gold standard for dollar stores, it’s this: Stuff costs a dollar. You might charge more for, say, a Tsunami electric shaver kit. But you never, ever charge less.

So something this apocalyptic can be attributed to only one thing: “It’s because of Wal-Mart,” says owner Mann Asal.

It’s been five months since the so-cheap-it’s-evil superstore opened in Steelyard Commons. Activists and politicians did their best to prevent Wal-Mart’s entry to Cleveland, fearing that it would kill off unionized groceries. But the first victim is a small business that shares a specialty with the superstore: selling cheap crap.

Asal tried to lower his prices by going with a new 88 cents model. “But it didn’t even work,” he says. “Yes, we got a few new customers, but not the volume required to stay in business.”

After all, the dollar-store racket is based on delicate math. Asal’s products – plastic padlocks, Little Mermaid backpacks, dusty cans of Barbasol – cost him 78 cents each in bulk. But factor in rent and wages, and you need to sell a lot of Garfield ponchos to turn a profit. Business has dropped 35 percent since Wal-Mart’s opened. “We ain’t making nothing these days,” he says.

So Asal is resigned to closing the Dollar Spot. “It’s time to find another trade. This one is not working.”