The Dollar Store Backlash Has Begun (citylab.com)

The U.S. has added 10,000 of these budget retail outlets since 2001. But some towns and cities are trying to push back. From a report: A recent research brief [PDF] by the Institute of Local Self Reliance (ILSR), a nonprofit supporting local economies, sheds light on the massive growth of this budget enterprise. Since 2001, outlets of Dollar General and Dollar Tree (which bought Family Dollar in 2015) have grown from 20,000 to 30,000 in number. Though these "small-box" retailers carry only a limited stock of prepared foods, they're now feeding more people than grocery chains like Whole Foods, which has around 400-plus outlets in the country. In fact, the number of dollar-store outlets nationwide exceeds that of Walmart and McDonalds put together -- and they're still growing at a breakneck pace. That, ILSR says, is bad news. "While dollar stores sometimes fill a need in cash-strapped communities, growing evidence suggests these stores are not merely a byproduct of economic distress," the authors of the brief write. "They're a cause of it."

Dollar stores have succeeded in part by capitalizing on a series of powerful economic and social forces -- white flight, the recent recession, the so-called "retail apocalypse" -- all of which have opened up gaping holes in food access. But while dollar store might not be causing these inequalities per se, they appear to be perpetuating them. The savings they claim to offer shoppers in the communities they move to makes them, in some ways, a little poorer. Using code made public by Jerry Shannon, a geographer at University of Georgia, CityLab made a map showing the spread of dollar stores since the recession.

Comments

Most of their pricing

[bobstreo]

isn't really that good. Family Dollar is a good example of this. Their canned beans are pretty cheap (unless you buy bulk dried beans) The Dollar smaller packages, or charges more for items than local stores.

If you look (in season) most people live close to a local farmers market. Their prices are usually much lower than local stores. Dollar stores in general don't have anything fresh that I've ever seen.

As far as things like meat, I don't think I've seen anything except hot dogs or canned chicken in the dollar stores.

Finally if you're financially constrained (receiving social services support), you don't get much "fresh" food from food banks, more government cheese. maybe some honey or rice.

I do some shopping at wal-mart, mostly buying their loss leaders, like their giant jars of pickles, never anything in the Meat Department because their prices and quality are not up to par with other local stores.

The gist:

[Can'tNot]

Grocery stores closed in a lot of poor neighborhoods during the recession, bringing down property values even further, and Dollar Stores moved in to fill the gaps. The presence of the Dollar Stores in those neighborhoods are now keeping out the traditional grocery stores, preventing those neighborhoods from recovering fully. The Dollar Stores are are nutritional deserts, and not really cheaper than grocery stores, so this is a losing situation all around.

(Posting this because I was curious, and annoyed that I was forced to skim the actual article. Skim! Outrage.)

Re:Wait... Dollar Tree?

[slazzy]

In Canada we have Dollarama, there's mostly junk food chips, pop, chocolate bars and some canned goods, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a main source of food for some people.

That's fine but dollar stores aren't cheap

[rsilvergun]

They sell small portions for high prices to people with little or no money. How do you think they're so profitable? Toothpaste & Toilet paper are the common examples. But the foodstuff is generally the same. You'll pay less at a regular grocery store but you'll generally have to buy more. Which, since you're generally buying dry goods kinda sucks.