I handle the Dollar Store business for my company and we sell the exact same (non-food) product to them as we do to everyone else. No defects, no cheaper materials, everything exactly the same, except where we would normally pack out 12 in a unit for $3.49 at Target, we might pack out 5 and sell it for a dollar.
I don't shop a lot at dollar stores - I have found that if I need cheap, Walmart always has better deals. But any name-brand product (including candy) is the same product the manufacturer ships to everyone else, just packaged in a "dollar store" size.