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Are Dollar General Stores a sign that your small town has died?


Horn Under a Bad Sign

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Whole Foods is a small, speciality grocer so that graph shouldn't surprise anyone.  It gets a lot of press because the business media that lives in big cities likes Whole Foods.  It's really that simple.  They still slob their nob even thought it's been 18 months and AMZN still hasn't said what they're doing with it.  (They're finding it harder to manage than they thought.)

As for Dollar General, they announced they're going to build 900 more stores in this coming year.  That's a lot considering how many they already have.  Granted, they're easy and cheap to build.  They have roughly 15,000 now.

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Your town ain't nothing until you get a Five Below.  It's the high end DG.  All cool, all trendy.
https://www.fivebelow.com


OMG I love Five Below.

It’s like an entire store of the Target Dollar Spot!

And I have nothing else to add except I went to a Dollar General tonight. I needed new plastic storage bins for Christmas stuff. Much rather pay $6 for them at DG than $15 for the same ones at Target.
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17 hours ago, SDG said:

Will someone explain to me why this is a surprise?  Low cost grocers have alway fed more Americans than premium grocers.  If it's a dietary thing I get that, but I don't see what this graphic is supposed to make us upset about.  

No one is asking you to be upset.  I would need to see a source that says low cost grocers have ALWAYS fed more Americans than premium grocers.  That’s a claim that needs evidence. 

I don’t think some of you read the rest of her tweets that connect to her main tweet. 

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So it’s corporate America’s fault...not the individuals who make purchase choices?

wtf ever.  Some of y’all are so eaten up with the hate for business.  Commerce follows what their customers want. 

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On 8/13/2018 at 11:12 PM, Helobious said:

I just remember when everyone made a big deal about the new Dollar General opening up in Weslaco, TX a few years ago. They made the grand opening a whole big event, local news stations, city council members, balloons, etc. One of the saddest things I’ve ever seen. IIRC it was robbed at gunpoint less than 4 days later. 

By Grabthar's hammer. What a savings.

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On 12/8/2018 at 6:27 PM, Aqua Buddha said:

They still slob their nob even thought it's been 18 months and AMZN still hasn't said what they're doing with it.  (They're finding it harder to manage than they thought.)

 We go to the physical Amazon bookstore here in Austin,  and I’m still not sure what their intentions are with the store or any of the stores  for that matter.   It sells the best-selling items from the online store.   It is nice to browse the books and toys.

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On 8/13/2018 at 4:01 PM, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

It is hard to get fresh produce in Presidio and sometimes even in Fort Stockton. I have repeatedly been appalled at the condition of some of the fruit and veggies  at the Lowe's in Fort Stockton.  I mean, it's on an interstate.  It should not be that hard to get fresh produce there. I can understand Presidio because it's at the end of the earth. 

I heard a rumor that the water system was upgraded for the city years ago only after they decided to build a state jail there.  Apparently the water as it was did not meet standards for the prisoners.  

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On 12/9/2018 at 2:17 PM, slorch said:

So it’s corporate America’s fault...not the individuals who make purchase choices?

wtf ever.  Some of y’all are so eaten up with the hate for business.  Commerce follows what their customers want. 

We live in a society that drives across town to save $0.02 per gallon of gas and waits an hour for a free taco at Taco Bell. If people want to romanticize the plight of the little guy, they are fighting a losing battle. I don't need my grocer or butcher to know my name. I want value and convenience because my time is a commodity. I don't care if my money is used to pay the light bill for someone's family or add an extension to a corporate VP's house. Times modernize and family owned businesses of this nature are a relic of the past. The argument in the OP is short sided. People don't bitch when a family owned Italian restaurant closes it's doors because Olive Garden came to town. (Beyond their own nostalgia) If the product being served is quality, people are happy to pay it. Those that want to save at the chain restaurants weren't your customer base anyway. That's capitalism at its core. If you can't compete with Goliath, take your bag of rocks home and move on to the next idea or location for your old one. Life isn't fair.

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4 hours ago, BottleRocket said:

Do things cost twice as much at the $2 Generals?

 

4 hours ago, Sandman said:

But of course. Can't have the rabble from the $1 store coming in and stinking up the joint. $2 is pure class.

I hear the $3 Generals are faaaaabulous! nttawwt

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2 hours ago, Spankytoes said:

We live in a society that drives across town to save $0.02 per gallon of gas and waits an hour for a free taco at Taco Bell. If people want to romanticize the plight of the little guy, they are fighting a losing battle. I don't need my grocer or butcher to know my name. I want value and convenience because my time is a commodity. I don't care if my money is used to pay the light bill for someone's family or add an extension to a corporate VP's house. Times modernize and family owned businesses of this nature are a relic of the past. The argument in the OP is short sided. People don't bitch when a family owned Italian restaurant closes it's doors because Olive Garden came to town. (Beyond their own nostalgia) If the product being served is quality, people are happy to pay it. Those that want to save at the chain restaurants weren't your customer base anyway. That's capitalism at its core. If you can't compete with Goliath, take your bag of rocks home and move on to the next idea or location for your old one. Life isn't fair.

If an Italian place lost out to Olive Garden, it didn't deserve to live...

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7 hours ago, Spankytoes said:

We live in a society that drives across town to save $0.02 per gallon of gas and waits an hour for a free taco at Taco Bell. If people want to romanticize the plight of the little guy, they are fighting a losing battle. I don't need my grocer or butcher to know my name.  

To each his own, but sometimes I want to go where everybody knows my name, and they're always glad I came.  I want to go where I can see the troubles are all the same.  I want to be where everybody knows my name.

Edited by clapclapclap
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  • 1 month later...

I have two Dollar General stores.  One is an older store and it shows it, but it's clean and kept in order .  The other just opened three or four months ago and it's nice.  It has a good floor plan and has many of the essentials other you need if you don't want to battle the crowds at our local Wal- Mart or HEB which are pain in the ass on weekends or during holiday periods.   The manager of this store must be on top or her/his game because it's always kept in order and has stuff in stock.  They have their own store brand stuff, but also the name brands which btw and Wal Mart and HEB can be hard to find at times because they are so big on their own brands (Sam's Choice, Great Value and whatever clever names HEB comes up with).  I find myself going to Dollar General more if the wife ask me to pick up a few things like (non food items)  on the way home or if it's a less than 10 items trip just to skip the dang lines at HEB and Wal Mart.  Sure it might cost a few more dimes and nickels here and there, but that's worth it time wise.  And cheaper than purchasing some of that shit at a Circle K or Stripes store for sure.

Edited by Nueces River Rat
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17 hours ago, Pancho Negro said:

Swore we had a thread on food deserts, but this is still applicable to this thread:

 

Let me preface this by saying HEB is probably one of the better corporate citizens in the State.   I know some of it is PR and all that jazz, but when shit hits the fan they come through such as when Harvey hit the coast down here.   But dang it I can't stand how they corner markets and keep competitors out of certain areas.  Here in my part of Corpus, we desperately need and alternative to the Wal Mart here and their other store about 15 minutes from my home is small as heck and is hell to get in and out of because of volume.  But less than 5 minutes from my house,  HEB has sat on a several acres of land promising to build a Plus or a store similar to Plus for several years now.   And the shit that REALLY pisses me off is they lease that land to a farmer and because a crop is being planted on it, HEB gets to take an Ag Exemption on that property.  So in effect, they are paying  about $120 in property taxes on a parcel of property that is worth close to $500K.    Whereas on my home that is appraised at almost $300k,  I pay close to $6500 in property taxes.  WTF????   I wish the state legislature would end this abuse of the loophole!!!!!    I'm pretty sure Wally Mart and the others who are big players in other parts of the state do this crap too.

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7 minutes ago, bluto said:

When they develop it they'll pay 5 yrs in back taxes on it plus accrued interest

That might be the case.   But it's still crap because at least in the interim, the tax burden falls big time on the property owners (mainly home owners)  who don't or can't use the Ag exemption.    There  should be a limit for how long an entity can use (abuse) this exemption and strict review of what is actually being conducted on that property which makes it eligible for Ag use.  I can tell you with the property  I noted,  they plant  sorghum  and compared to other fields around here it's probably the worse kept field for miles and miles and miles which makes some of  us believe they are just planting  and trashing it with no intention for it to be used for human or even animal consumption.  

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When you live in Aspermont, Jayton, or Paducah, and it's nearly 100 miles to Abilene, Lubbock, or Wichita Falls, you live off of whatever you can get at Dollar General or Alsups. You stupid fucks that have never been 20 miles outside of big cities have no idea. Those folks live on a very limited income, no money for the gas, and shitty cars that probably wouldn't survive the round trip. Healthcare is even worse. The median age is probably 55. These are old ranch hands and their spouses that live on nothing but a social security check and subsidized housing because they can't afford to live anywhere else.

 

CHIEF

Edited by CHIEF
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18 hours ago, Pancho Negro said:

Swore we had a thread on food deserts, but this is still applicable to this thread:

 

this grocery store is closer to the mosaic condominiums and about 10 apartment complexes named _______ at hermann park than it is to cuney homes. 

on top of that, the HEB deep in the 3rd ward is going to be "another store," whatever the fuck that means.  what it doesn't mean is a full on regular HEB.  so, not really progress.

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3 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

That might be the case.   But it's still crap because at least in the interim, the tax burden falls big time on the property owners (mainly home owners)  who don't or can't use the Ag exemption.    There  should be a limit for how long an entity can use (abuse) this exemption and strict review of what is actually being conducted on that property which makes it eligible for Ag use.  I can tell you with the property  I noted,  they plant  sorghum  and compared to other fields around here it's probably the worse kept field for miles and miles and miles which makes some of  us believe they are just planting  and trashing it with no intention for it to be used for human or even animal consumption.  

Based on that one property, is HEB actually utilizing govt services like the home owners?     It’s a separate topic than this thread but our method of funding govt via property taxes can lead to many unfair scenarios.  

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any market in which HEB is a player has cheaper groceries for the consumer.

 

They are seriously competitive with price.

 

and y'all debatin' tax schemes...

 

Which one helps people out the most?  Keeping money in the pockets of the citizens or sending it to city hall?

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24 minutes ago, slorch said:

any market in which HEB is a player has cheaper groceries for the consumer.

 

They are seriously competitive with price.

 

and y'all debatin' tax schemes...

 

Which one helps people out the most?  Keeping money in the pockets of the citizens or sending it to city hall?

Like city hall is ever open. Ha!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Family Dollar will close nearly 400 stores this year on top of the more than 120 it closed in 2018. It will also re-brand around 200 stores as Dollar Tree this year.

 

New York (CNN Business)Family Dollar will close 390 stores this year — one of many big changes the discount retailer hopes will help reverse its fortunes.

The chain courts low-income shoppers with an array of items sold for under $10 at its more than 8,000 stores. It is owned by the Dollar Tree, which operates an eponymous chain of 7,000 other stores in suburban areas. Dollar Tree stores cater to customers who make more than Family Dollar customers do, but all of their products sell for only $1.
Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar in 2015 for $8.5 billion. The combined company hoped that by joining forces, it could grow its customer base, reduce costs and fend off bigger retailers like Dollar General (DG) and Walmart (WMT).
 
But Family Dollar has struggled and Dollar Tree's (DLTR)stock price has slipped since the deal. An activist investor heavily pressured the company earlier this year to dump the ailing Family Dollar line and start selling Dollar Tree merchandise for higher prices.
 
"Dollar Tree significantly overpaid for Family Dollar, and this business is proving to be a meaningful distraction," Jeffrey Smith, CEO of Starboard Value, wrote to the company in January. The firm, which is best known for revitalizing Olive Garden's parent company Darden(DRI), owns roughly 1% of Dollar Tree.
 
The dollar and discount segments of retail have become hyper competitive in recent years as more Americans hunt for bargains on everything from groceries to electronics. Despite the growing economy, many Americans living paycheck to paycheck continue to struggle, creating more room for dollar stores to expand.

Discount competitor Dollar General has more than 15,000 stores across the country, and the company wants to expand even more in rural areas. Dollar General also has started to sell more groceries at its rural locations.

Meanwhile, eccentric chains like Ollie's Bargain Outlet(OLLI) and Five Below (FIVE) are booming. Discount grocers Aldi and Lidl also plan to open hundreds of stores in the United States to reach customers who are shopping for cheap groceries. Walmart and Target (TGT) have lowered prices on merchandise in recent years, too.

Edited by RPM
don't know why that one bit of text is different
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On 12/10/2018 at 3:37 PM, Spankytoes said:

We live in a society that drives across town to save $0.02 per gallon of gas and waits an hour for a free taco at Taco Bell. If people want to romanticize the plight of the little guy, they are fighting a losing battle. I don't need my grocer or butcher to know my name. I want value and convenience because my time is a commodity. I don't care if my money is used to pay the light bill for someone's family or add an extension to a corporate VP's house. Times modernize and family owned businesses of this nature are a relic of the past. The argument in the OP is short sided. People don't bitch when a family owned Italian restaurant closes it's doors because Olive Garden came to town. (Beyond their own nostalgia) If the product being served is quality, people are happy to pay it. Those that want to save at the chain restaurants weren't your customer base anyway. That's capitalism at its core. If you can't compete with Goliath, take your bag of rocks home and move on to the next idea or location for your old one. Life isn't fair.

This approach gets you a town full of chain restaurants with massive supply chain engines that a) can afford higher rents than the local restaurants can and b) have big buying power for their food costs. The same thing happened in a lot of cases to the independent farms (I grew up on one): corporate farming at scale ran the little guys off. 

 

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We live in a society that drives across town to save $0.02 per gallon of gas and waits an hour for a free taco at Taco Bell. If people want to romanticize the plight of the little guy, they are fighting a losing battle. I don't need my grocer or butcher to know my name. I want value and convenience because my time is a commodity. I don't care if my money is used to pay the light bill for someone's family or add an extension to a corporate VP's house. Times modernize and family owned businesses of this nature are a relic of the past. The argument in the OP is short sided. People don't bitch when a family owned Italian restaurant closes it's doors because Olive Garden came to town. (Beyond their own nostalgia) If the product being served is quality, people are happy to pay it. Those that want to save at the chain restaurants weren't your customer base anyway. That's capitalism at its core. If you can't compete with Goliath, take your bag of rocks home and move on to the next idea or location for your old one. Life isn't fair.

Maybe you’d be happier at that board owned by the corporate entity that can afford to hire lots of lawyers and stuff.
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On 2/9/2019 at 10:46 AM, Nueces River Rat said:

That might be the case.   But it's still crap because at least in the interim, the tax burden falls big time on the property owners (mainly home owners)  who don't or can't use the Ag exemption.    There  should be a limit for how long an entity can use (abuse) this exemption and strict review of what is actually being conducted on that property which makes it eligible for Ag use.  I can tell you with the property  I noted,  they plant  sorghum  and compared to other fields around here it's probably the worse kept field for miles and miles and miles which makes some of  us believe they are just planting  and trashing it with no intention for it to be used for human or even animal consumption.  

If you weren't so poor, you could afford to buy enough land to get a tax break on your property!  

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