This Retailer Is Doing So Well It's Opening Hundreds Of New Stores For The Fourth Straight Year

Business Insider ^ | 01/05/2012 | Kim Bashin

[Vigilanteman]

It thrives on hitting markets that Walmart hasn't taken over, such as small towns that can't support one of Walmart's massive big box stores.

It actually does well in towns that support Walmarts as well. Our town had the biggest Walmart in the world (in terms of floorspace) when it opened about 6 years ago. I don't think it does anymore. But we generally avoid it. You will park at least a quarter mile away, spend a half hour or so walking around the store to pick-up what you need and another 20 minutes or so waiting in line to pay for it.

Slide into the local Dollar General, and you are generally in and out in 20 minutes, including the walk from and to your parking spot.

Yeah, you trade selection for convenience, but some things (like OTC drugs) are actually cheaper at Dollar General or Big Lots, one of our other favored Wal-Mart alternatives.

[InterceptPoint]

I confess to being a 99 Cent Store fan. In California at least it is the very best place to buy reading glasses and sunglasses. I lose them at about a pair per month rate so those fancy, expensive and stylish glasses are not for me.

A buck a pair for the ones that sell at Walgreens for $15.

So I just buy them 10 at a time, scatter them around the house and the cars and I can always find a pair of reading glasses somewhere.

[wayoverontheright]

Another Obama-era growth industry is the sub-prime money services industry. Pay-day loans, title loans, buy here pay here car dealerships, check cashing etc.

This industry was already growing, but has been put into hyper-growth mode by Dodd-Frank. This legislation makes it impossible for some to get checking accounts or credit from banks.

This is the industry Obama seems in a hurry to attack through his recent (non) recess appointment. It’s my bet that it will be one massive shakedown for protection money-I mean-campaign donations.

It’s all about getting re-elected.

[bigbob]

Not so. These stores are thriving because they have a good business model: attractive prices on daily-use merchandise located close to home. There is no reason to demean a company that is being successful by providing a needed product at good prices, instead we should learn from them and do more of it. This is called good marketing and good business.

[Millicent_Hornswaggle]

No, ours isn’t either. The prices are on par with WalMart. I dog in occasionally, but don’t buy anything.

[Yulee]

I remember the day when the type of items you find at the dollar Store were made in Japan or China, and were considered cheaply made. All other items and manufactured goods were made in the USA.

Talk about a reverse of fortunes!

[RedWhiteBlue]

Does Dollar General take coupons?

[BfloGuy]

Only thing Dollar General doesn’t have is fresh produce

Oh, no! You mean they're. . . food deserts?!

[wardaddy]

Dollar General and Wal Mart are not really that similar.

DG is arguably cheaper. and WallyWorld has way more stuff.

They rarely own their stores, they lease them on long triple nets.

Here in the mid south they will pay lease based on around 8.00 cap rate and up per month on a 20 year lease...not bad and steady

if you have the land where they need a store, you can take that lease to any bank to fund the building cost

I have a buddy who lives off his 3-4 store’s leases

Well run outfit...I don’t think the local Turner family runs it anymore.

[Lorianne]

Good, we can buy even more Chinese made stuff.

[murron]

Dollar General saved my bacon this Christmas. I didn’t have a lot of money to spend on my 6 grandkids for gifts, so I shopped at Dollar General and saved a ton of money! I even found something for my oldest granddaughter who is 12 and not interested in toys any longer. I like shopping there.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Good, we can buy even more Chinese made stuff.

Read an observation made by a Dollar General Shopper in Post #7 of this thread (above).

[yarddog]

Interesting.

I just drove by a construction site and saw a sign which indicated a dollar store was under construction. I never can tell which type of dollar store from another but it probably is a dollar general.

Now that I think about it, a dollar is probably worth about the same as a dime was when dime stores became popular.

[bgill]

Huh? Dollar General and Family Dollar are not dollar stores. They’re merely mini Walmarts with prices far and above $1.

[bgill]

she and dad don't NEED to get a 30-pack of toilet paper

They will when it hits the fan. Ever heard of prepping? TP doesn't expire and people use it every day.

[discostu]

I always like to check out the DVDs at Family Dollar. The selection is incredibly random, but often fun. Yeah sure Shaft in Africa is terrible, but for $6 total you get all 3 what the heck. That’s the kind of sentence they make me say a lot, usually to the tune of $20 or so.

[bgill]

I rarely go into ours and when I do they don’t have what I went in there for. At one time they only took cash and not cards or checks. I don’t know if that’s changed but when you don’t carry cash, you don’t bother shopping there.

[fredhead]

Here in Norfolk we had a Wal-Mart open up a couple of years ago right next to a K-Mart. Everybody expected for the K-Mart to close. Instead, it gets good business. People go to K-Mart to escape the Wal-Mart Zoo.

And according to the local news, it’s NOT on the Sears/K-Mart closure list.

[wbill]

Mom and Dad are not preppers. They have more-or-less the same opinion that I do - be prepared for the most likely event. In our case, that's probably a hurricane or a tornado. In the winter, it's an ice storm.

Otherwise, it's better to be smart, and mobile. 2 years' worth of dried food and toilet paper doesn't do you much good if it's underwater.

That's just my opinion, and you're absolutely welcome to agree or disagree. I don't mock people for being prepared, I only mock those (and there are plenty on FR) who feverently wish and hope for the end of the world, just so that they can use their caches of stuff. The "Come and Get Some" Armchair Warriors who "have plenty of lead, and aren't afraid to use it". Whatever. Better to be quiet, smart and mobile, than to make a target out of yourself by loudly beating your chest.

Personally, I buy TP (and other stuff) in big bulk packs because I'm cheap. :-) I make sure that - especially during hurricane season - there's plenty of bottled water, meds, and so on in the house. At any one point in time, there's probably a month or so of food in the house (again, more during ice storm / hurricane season). And so on. Nothing that I can't fit, quickly and easily, in the truck if things go south and I need to bug out. Does that make me a prepper? Or an anti-prepper? Who knows, but it works for me.

[Drew68]

Welcome to the Obama economy where the only economic growth is in dollar stores and pawn shops.

I'm seeing "Sweepstakes" storefronts and internet cafes opening in strip mall vacancies all over northeast Florida. I'm assuming these are both fronts for gambling operations.