Posted on 01/14/2020 1:40:42 AM PST by goldstategop
TARRS, Pennsylvania -- Five years ago, the plot of land where the Dollar General store sits on Glades Pike was just that: a plot of pastoral greenery located near a row of neatly kept homes in an unincorporated village that once briefly boomed as a coal town.
The store's familiar yellow sign with bold, all-capitalized black letters sits slightly back from rolling Pennsylvania Route 31, which runs parallel to both the turnpike and the Lincoln Highway. For many people in the area, the store serves as a quick stop for a forgotten grocery staple or deeply discounted household goods.
These places match the service provided by the mom and pop general stores that once dotted rural America for two centuries, or the five-and-dime stores that populated small- and medium-sized towns across the country post-Civil War. They serve a purpose unmet by larger supermarkets unwilling to locate to lower-population regions because the regions make no business sense.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
I hate to say I it like this, but my taste is a little more upscale.
I’m a Dollar Tree guy
Whenever I’m passing Dollar Stores I check if they have any Hot Wheels I can add to my collection.
The local DG has a good selection but no fresh produce or fresh meat. But it is only 3 miles from me. Plus the prices are comparable to Wall-Mart and items are easier to find in the small store.
The nearest big-box supermarket is a 50-mile round trip away so the DG is great for picking up some stuff without driving to town.
Dollar stores do not sell food.
They sell junk and say it is food.
The basic premise behind a “dollar store” is maintaining the economy of scale. Load up a huge 53 foot Semi trailer with product.
Huge trailers though do not fit well on small roads and tight places. Dollar Stores are a safety nightmare for truck drivers because the stores are not built for size.
Rural General Stores have higher prices because of off loading on to smaller trucks.
Dollar Stores are an almost Walmart but without the cheaper modern fork lift unloading. Smaller places do not have the storage space.
Hence Dollar Stores are inherently more expensive than Walmart or Target, but cheaper than a General Store.
And that is the big secret.
There’s one on I35 in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma also.
We love Dollar General. We passed that distribution center one time when my little girl was maybe 6 or 7. We commented on that being the biggest Dollar General store ever.
She didn’t get the joke. She cried and cried; wanted us to stop there and shop.
She’s 28 years old now. Still loves her DG.
Thanks :)
So it is only my #6 holding now. Pricing similar to Wal-Mart, convenience similar to 7-11. What's not to like?
Thanks for this. I was having an actual WTF moment after reading that title.
We have a DG right up the street. The staff is courteous, friendly, and helpful.
If you know what to buy there it’s quite a bargain cave.
L
There are two Dollar General stores near me. Sometimes there’s so much clutter of stock boxes in the aisles it’s not possible to shop.
The Dollar General by me has bread & milk; I’ve never seen produce there - and that specifically was why they were deemed as contributing to “food deserts”.
It does a lot of business, but not with normals; a lot of public assistance types. Normals would tear their hair out waiting on the checkout line.
We have a Dollar General, and several Indian-run “dollar stores”; I don’t view them as competitors they just seem to sell very different items. The dollar stores have a lot of cheap Asian goods (kitchen utensils and such), the Dollar General has a lot of food (mainly canned/boxed), a small refrigerated/frozen section, greeting cards, medicine, and clothing. I see little of what Dollar General sells in the dollar stores.
I miss Woolworth’s lunch counters
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