MARCH 2012

ECONOMICS & enterprise
Dreaming Big:
Entrepreneur
reinvents the
dollar store genre
By Weam Namou
Just 30 years old, Oras Yono has only been in
the United States for eight years. Yet he is already
the sole owner of three successful businesses.
He’s been able to get far with his motto,
“Work hard, no time for play!”
“When I first came to this country in 2003, I
worked as a stock boy at a supermarket,” said Yono.
“Within three years, I opened the first Dream
Dollar in Lincoln Park. Then in January 2010, I
opened a warehouse and a second Dream Dollar.”
Didn’t he feel the crunch of the recession, with
the worst economy in America since the Great Depression?
“There’s nothing wrong with the economy,” he
said. “There’s always a job in America for whoever
wants to work and people still spend and shop.
Walmart and Cosco weren’t hit by the recession,
why should I be? Business is good.”
That’s what it seems from the activity taking
place at the Dream Dollar in Sterling Heights at
15 Mile Road and Ryan. The store is not a typical
dollar store, carrying more than 10,000 items that
range from home décor, antiques, Middle Eastern
food and galabiyat (traditional Arabic gowns) to a
variety of rugs priced between $75 and $300.
“The first customer who walked into our store
was a Chaldean woman who asked if we had rugs,”
said Yono. “She said, ‘everyone else carries rugs.’ So
the next day we brought rugs to the store.”
The rugs are imported from different countries
and they’re some of the store’s best-selling items.
Other items include distinctive incense holders
from Dubai, outdoor fountains, henna, Turkish
coffee cups, stainless steel pots and pans, lamps,
purses, nerguilas, mosaic elephant figurines, and
large collections of silver jewelry and head crowns
for girls.
“In January we’re expanding to an adjacent
building where we will place all the expensive
items,” said Yono. “It will be called Hadia.”
Yono travels to China, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and
will be going to Turkey soon to bring in out-of-the
ordinary products because he does not like to copy
other stores’ stock.
“My father and I came up with the idea of putting
items you wouldn’t see in other dollar stores,”
he said. “It’s a good idea but it requires a lot of
work. Sometimes we’re here until midnight. Sometimes
we don’t sleep.”
But he wouldn’t want it any other way. As a
husband and the father of two young children,
Sandra, 7, and Mario, 5, he has the responsibility
of “taking care of others.” He also has the dream of
turning Dream Dollar into a chain.
Yono feels that those who financially struggle
in America do not understand or appreciate the
country.
“This is the best country ever,” he said. “Here,
you feel you are safe, that you are human. You have
freedoms.”
This is what he had heard about America when
he lived in Baghdad and that is why he wanted to
come here.
“I didn’t need America,” he said. “My family
was well-off in Iraq and I was a university student. I
lived a good life, but I wanted to see this new world
and to be independent.”
From above:
Oras Yono hopes to make Dream Dollar into a chain.
The shelves are crowded with everything from cigarettes
to hookas to traditional Arab clothing and religious
statues.
Unlike the majority of newcomers, the challenges
that Yono had were not lack of money; it
was gaining experience, becoming familiar with
the rules that apply to America and learning the
language.
“If you can’t speak English, you can’t do anything,”
he said. “That’s why I really advise people
to study. A degree in America is very important.”
And if education is not available, then learning
one trade and sticking to it rather than jumping
from one job to another is also a formula for success,
he said.
“One problem that newcomers have when they
come here is that they want to fly,” said Yono.
“They want this and they want that, like the best
cars and TVs. A television set, whether it’s plasma
or not, will do the same job.”
Yono believes that today’s newcomers have it
better because they are provided with government
assistance. Before, they were not.
“I never received health or food benefits from
the government,” he said. “I have been paying taxes
since the first day I arrived to America.”
Despite his family’s success, Yono depended on
himself for most of the time and survived by staying
realistic and never buying over his budget. He
lived in a small apartment and drove a 10-year-old
car with a radiator that he often had to replenish
with water.
“I took it one step at a time,” he said. “And I
didn’t make excuses.”
58 CHALDEAN NEWS MARCH 2012