The town I live in has a spreading plague of dollar stores — we’ve got two (in a town of 5000 people!) and a third one is under construction. I’m not keen on them — they seem to be sloppily managed and underpay their workers — so they’re a sign of a crumbling economy and are just jumbles of cheap plastic junk. But OK, they do serve a growing population of the poor, so I’m not going to lobby to have them shut down.
Except, maybe, they’re lying about providing lower cost goods.
The dollar-store industry, including Family Dollar and its larger rival, Dollar General, promises everyday low prices for household essentials. But an investigation by the Guardian found that the prices listed on the shelves at these two chains often don’t materialize at checkout – in North Carolina and around the country. As the cost of living soars across America, the customers bearing the burden are those who can least afford it – customers who often don’t even notice they’re overpaying.
These overcharges are widespread.
Dollar General stores have failed more than 4,300 government price-accuracy inspections in 23 states since January 2022, a Guardian review found. Family Dollar stores have failed more than 2,100 price inspections in 20 states over the same time span, the review found.
That we have 3 of these bottom-of-the-barrel stores in progress here in Morris, Minnesota suggests that they are extremely profitable, and one way they become profitable is by gouging the customers who can least afford it.
“Greatest nation on Earth, baby! Love it or leave it!”
– Some millionaire evangelist, probably
The Dollar stores have actually been in financial trouble for a while.
They’ve been suffering from inflation, competition, and market saturation.
The other big factor is that their targeted demographic, lower income people are…becoming even more lower in income. People are shifting towards buying what they need, instead of what they want.
All this suggests that the three dollar stores in Morris, Minnesota are going to be competing against each other for customers.
Welcome to the Trump economy! Where we, flat out, lie to your face while picking your pocket, gouging you for every last nickel (now that pennies are going away). And remember, China is paying all those tariffs and affordability is a Democratic scam!
I noticed in my area, when a new Dollar Store Chain opens the nearest local convenience store goes out of business in one to two years.
From Google AI:
Yes, studies and reports indicate that dollar stores can drive local convenience stores out of business by creating market pressure, although it’s not a guaranteed outcome. Dollar store chains use their massive resources to undercut local businesses, and their expansion can negatively impact community food systems and local employment opportunities. However, some areas have implemented policies to help local stores compete or have seen community efforts to support them, notes the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
How dollar stores impact local businesses
Market pressure: Large dollar store chains have the financial resources to operate at a loss in an area until local competitors close down.
Competition: They compete with both convenience and grocery stores, often offering a wider variety of goods and operating in locations that may not be served by larger supermarkets.
Community impact: The expansion of dollar stores can negatively affect local food systems and employment opportunities.
This makes me remember the first and last tools I ever bought from the German equivalent of a dollar store:
A set of hex keys. I don’t know what metal they were made from. I tried to loose one screw with one of them, the screw didn’t budge but with no effort at all the edges of the key were scraped of and the end was completely round…
Eagle River, WI, where I live from spring thru fall, has 2 dollar stores, 5 thrift shops and a food bank, all within a 4 mile radius. The permanent population is less than 1700. Trump won by more than double digits in 2024.
I live across the street from one and they’re always messy and the merchandise is overpriced. They’re really only good for getting junk food and the odd item you don’t feel like getting somewhere else.
It’s been known for years that dollar store openings can be used to track diabetes rates in communities: they open up and muscle out traditional small grocery stores because they can move into areas that big groceries like Walmart and Safeway can’t. Then, the lack of standard grocery stores causes food deserts where people are forced to rely more on the dollar stores’ offerings of junk food, contributing to weight gain from the high sugar and high fat contents.
microraptor, I can find no cases where dollar store openings have been used to track diabetes rates in communities. Sounds specious.
Also, the logic of your claim is suspect too; the only way they can displace regular stores is when people choose to buy at the dollar store instead. There is no ‘forcing’ at that stage.
John Morales @9
Look up “food desert”.
These people are not choosing.
JimB, I am fully aware of all of that.
What I stated stands.
Relevant youtube video on this phenomenon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQpUV–2Jao
Thanks Skatje. Maybe not the intended take from the video, but WalMart seems a far better place to go than these dollar stores. The WalMart experience is too bonkers for me yet I imagine one could make healthier choices there for a better price than say Dollar General. Yet WalMart isn’t serving the more remote areas nor maybe the food deserts in more populated areas. And I hate WalMart. I only go there for electronics stuff rarely. HDMI cable?
I tend toward Publix out of convenience for food. They are a problematic corporation but maybe a better employee than Winn Dixie. There is an Aldis coming soon. I’ve never tried one of those. My mom used to take me to the A&P back in the day. I have only gone to a dollar store very rarely. It’s probably a very good thing they are not my lifeline. They seem ubiquitous even where I live with so many other alternatives, yet I have easy transportation. Ughh!
My neighborhood store is a mom and pop Indian convenience store. I usually only buy beer, jerky (yes the irony), or chips. I have a great rapport with the staff. One of the younger guys is as fanatical as me about F1. I don’t know what sort of issues they represent for transportation limited impoverished folks living in my neighborhood. There is also a Circle K. They used to have hotdogs and boiled peanuts. I rarely go there since the pandemic maybe for superstitious reasons.
@13 Hemi…
We do most of our grocery shopping at Aldi. Generally, the prices are better than the big chains (around here, that’s mostly Hannaford and Price Chopper), although for the most part you won’t see a lot of national brands. The stores are generally much smaller than the big chains but much larger than convenience stores. This makes them very convenient (and it helps that they don’t place the dairy and bread at the exact opposite corner from the entrance, making you walk through the entire store). They can get away with the smaller size because they don’t offer much in the way of more specialized or “fringe” foods (e.g., I’ve never seen parsnips or kohlrabi in an Aldi), and they don’t offer a half dozen brand varieties of the same thing (e.g., you get one choice for raisin bran). Also, they don’t have a deli counter or anything like that. Everything along those lines is prepackaged. I find it an ideal place for buying staples and perhaps 90% of what we need.
Side note, many people I know refer to it as “Aldi’s”. I don’t know why. It’s not like they refer to Hannaford as “Hannaford’s”.
Side side note: I used to follow F1 back in the 80s and early 90s, but after the whole Prost-Senna drama (and Senna’s death), I stopped.
Even without actively mischarging, they are often lying about being cheaper: When CBC Markeplace took a look at similar stores in Canada, many products were just as expensive as anywhere else. They just looked cheaper because they were being sold in smaller packages.