We shopped at Dollar Tree and Dollar General to see which offered a better experience, and the winner was obvious (DG, DLTR)

Bargain-hunting has been the flavor of the past decade.

Since the recession, cost-conscious consumers have flocked to off-price, thrift, and dollar stores in search of good deals. As a result, these stores have seen a surge in sales.

From 2010 to 2015, US dollar-store sales grew to $45.3 billion from $30.4 billion, and hundreds of stores have opened. The credit-rating agency Moody’s said in a report on Dollar Tree that it was expecting 8% growth for the dollar-store segment in 2018. That’s about double the growth of 3.5% to 4.5% it expects for US retail in general during the same time.

Dollar General and Dollar Tree are the two largest dollar stores in the United States and based on numbers alone, the two chains are almost identical.

Dollar Tree – and its newly acquired Family Dollar chain – have slightly more locations than Dollar General, but both have about 14,000 to 15,000. In terms of sales, Dollar Tree is a close second, generating $22 billion in sales in 2017 compared with $23.5 billion at Dollar General.

But there is a massive difference in the shopping experience at these no-frills stores. First and foremost, Dollar Tree sells only products that are $1 or under, whereas Dollar General, which once did the same, is now more like a discount retailer.

Dollar Tree was also recently voted one of the top 25 beloved brands by a pool of millennial shoppers surveyed by market research firm Morning Consult.

We visited both stores in March to see how they compared: