The Dollar Store Backlash Has Begun

[Algernon Moncrieff]

Citylab via MSN Money

As Lawrence Brown, a community health expert at Baltimore’s Morgan State University, tweeted in response to the ILSR report, dollar stores function as “subprime groceries.” And recently some local governments have started pushing back on these retailers, rejecting development at the neighborhood level or devising ordinances that seek to limit their spread in certain areas.

Such moves can be divisive—detractors point to the dire need such stores are meeting in retail-starved areas. But the rise of dollar stores represents a deeper problem, one rooted in the history of housing segregation. Addressing that issue requires questioning the host of complicated assumptions that have led to the present conditions—and the myriad ways residents in so-called food deserts have responded to them.

The “food desert” paradox

Ashanté Reese, an assistant professor at Spelman College, lives on Atlanta’s Westside, within two miles of a pair of dollar stores. Her zip code was particularly hard hit in the recession, suffering a 50 percent foreclosure rate. Those demographics are now changing, but the residents for a long time included elderly folks and people on fixed incomes—the exact kind of shoppers dollar-store executives have said they are targeting.

There’s also a traditional supermarket, a Kroger, which is where Reese shops. But the one near her house isn’t as nice as the one 15 minutes away, she says. The one in a whiter, more affluent neighborhood regularly advertises grains, nuts, seafood, olives, and wine.

[alittlelark]

1. Here in Jemez Springs, NM we have 2 'Dollar' stores

16 miles from us. Garbage Food - truly trash. The closest real grocery store is almost an hour away. If I want fresh fruit or veggies I drive 2 hours total. Very frustrating. We have Farmers markets once a week for 5 months out of the year....that's it.

A TRUE 'food desert'.

[marybourg]

2. That's not something new in Jemez Springs,

or any tiny town in NM. When I lived in ABQ I used to tell people it had all the food variety and sophistication of any CA town of 3,000 (the ABQ pop. @ that time was abt. 300,000). That’s why I now live in the PHX metro.

[Quixote1818]

6. Albuquerque now has Trader Joe's, Whole Foods etc.

Pretty much anything you need.

[marybourg]

12. 'bout time. I gave up & left 25 years ago.

[womanofthehills]

25. Actually, Albuquerque is now swimming in organic food stores

Two Whole Foods Markets, two Trader Joe's, three La Montanita-Co- Op stores, two Natural Grocer stores, plus Sprouts and some smaller stores. And in the summer, lots of farmers markets.

Of course, I live 90 miles away from these stores, in rural NM. I go to Albuquerque 2 times a month for organic groceries. The closest town to me, Mountainair, has a 2 block downtown and when the dollar store came in, it really hurt all the small businesses. In fact, our little grocery store closed down and we had a "Go Fund Me" to open our store back up. So, for almost 2 yrs we were a food desert with the closest grocery store almost 40 miles away (Walmart). Our grocery store is still struggling because of the dollar store with their disgusting food. We do have some organic vegs in our new grocery store and in the summer a small farmer's market.

[marybourg]

60. Glad to hear the co-op survived.

After I moved away and WF opened up, I heard talk of the co-op closing down. The coop was the only place to buy what I thought of as middle class food when I lived there. Just before I moved away. Price Club ( the predecessor to Costco) opened up. That was a big help. I remember not being able to buy any pasta other than spaghetti in the regular "supermarkets " And that was only 30years ago.

[maxsolomon]

3. Not really comparable.

Last edited Wed Jan 2, 2019, 02:45 PM - Edit history (1)

A neighborhood in ATL versus your town of 375.

[Codeine]

5. That's a predictable side effect of living

in Bumfuck Egypt. It’s not realistic to assume a tiny town in the middle of nowhere is going to have a normal grocery store.

[janx]

9. Yes, but you get to live in a gorgeous area.

I'm sure the trek to the grocery store is frustrating, my my God, what a beautiful place to live.

[USALiberal]

46. I doubt I would think their food is "Garbage Food" and the store is still open.. nt

[MaryMagdaline]

4. So where are poor people supposed to shop? I don't see Kroger, Publix, taking up the slack

How about cities approaching grocery chains and offering to subsidize food costs if they move into the inner cities?

Let's get a plan before sending poor people back to 7-11 to shop.

[maxsolomon]

8. The neighborhood in this story has a Krogers

There's a problem in the options they stock, and what lower-income people can afford to buy.

Food Deserts have been a conundrum for decades.

[Blue_true]

19. Mary had the right idea.

Cities fall all over themselves to offer an Amazon or Apple Billions or tens of Millions to locate facilities, yet they won't offer to build a building and parking lot for a grocery chain if it locate a store into a lower income area and charge lower prices for quality items.

Grocery stores can use all types of schemes to provide low prices and also make money, they can buy big lots, irregulars (meat, produce, can goods, ect) and set low prices on the stuff.

[dbackjon]

32. Actually it is a Food Swamp - full of unhealthy foods

[maxsolomon]

37. I like that term!

Every grocery is full of bad choices - these lack any healthy ones that are affordable.

[dbackjon]

39. Good articles here

https://www.bluezones.com/2017/11/news-food-swamps-contribute-obesity-food-deserts/

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/combat-food-deserts-and-food-swamps

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/12/food-swamps/549275/

The term “food desert” conjures the image of a forlorn citizen, wandering through a barren landscape for miles and miles (or, by definition, for more than a mile) to reach the nearest fresh-food market. Populating food deserts with grocery stores is a favored cause among nutrition advocates, but the concept became controversial after some recent studies found the distance to the nearest grocery store doesn’t correlate with a region’s obesity rate.

Now, new research suggests food deserts might not be the culprit—or at least not the only one—for the high prevalence of obesity in certain areas. Instead, food swamps might be to blame.

In addition to being low on grocery stores, food swamps are also crammed with unhealthy food options like corner stores and fast-food places.

[Merlot]

7. There are two dollar stores in my vicinity - both have excellent produce

Fruit and veggies. Also some nuts and a smattering of healthy foods scattered around the store. Every thing else is variations of packaged sugar.

[Blue_true]

20. My oldest brother is really cheap. For him Walmart is luxury shopping.

But going into places with him and seeing the relatively good quality of what he gets has taught me a lot. Walnart and Dollar stores often run specials where they seem to buy big lots, then drop prices to sell the stuff fast, or they buy irregular cut meats or slightly blemished fruit and vegetables. I have helped him repackage the stuff for refrigeration or helped him prepare it (peeling, slicing), the stuff is fresh and good quality, but he may get a chicken thigh that weighs 4 ounces in a pack with others that can weigh up to 9 ounces, I don't see that shopping at Publix.

If the goal is to feed yourself and save money, places like Walmart and Dollar stores serve a critical need.

[displacedtexan]

30. My retired Latin teacher brother loved the dollar stores.

He loved finding European jams and crackers at prices lower than Aldi and bite size candy bars for $1 a package. I've never seen a dollar store that sells produce or meat, though. But there have always been Scratch & Dent stores in larger cities, which are a big help to lots of people.

[Blue_true]

34. Sometimes people can get too worked up about stuff.

Dollar stores have a real following. The big chain grocery stores and health food stores don't locate in many of the areas that Dollar stores serve. Maybe instead of tearing down dollar stores for operating in food desserts, maybe proposing a workable solution would be helpful. One thing that I think could be done is a special 1-2% tax on store items sold in upscale and middleclass areas, used to bring grocery stores to poor areas, or tax breaks for full service grocers that out stores in poorer areas, under the condition that they also charge lower prices that make a difference to consumers.

[forgotmylogin]

59. The ones near me are not bad at all.

We have three grocery stores in radius, but Dollar General serves the role of a local...bodega I guess. They have milk and eggs and lunchmeat and cheese and frozen foods - frozen hamburger and shrimp. Sometimes if you just need milk and eggs it's easier to go in there and grab them near the door than to walk ALL THE WAY to the back of a huge grocery store where the dairy is kept.

They also have a lot of brand name packaged stuff for cheaper. Their house brand is hit and miss...but most of the time generic sugar and flour and oils and baking supplies are no different and much less expensive than the big grocery store offerings.

[Merlot]

41. I like that dollar stores sell the imperfect fruits and overstock veggies

So much food is wasted because it doesn't meet supermarket standards. I often see the exact same brands as whole foods for veggies. If there are to many veggies in the market dollar store will buy the leftovers.

So many people hungry, and so much food goes to waste.

But the rest of the dollar stores are a wasteland of sugar.

[DeminPennswoods]

10. These are just modern day 5 and 10s (cents) stores

adjusted for inflation. Each time I go into a dollar store, I'm reminded of the five and ten cent stores although stores like GC Murphy did carry a bigger selection of goods and also had candy and deli counters.

[Blue_true]

21. I never got to use 5 and 10 stores, but my parents talked about them.

You made a good analogy, I think Dollar stores are exactly that.

[UniteFightBack]

36. Yes that is exactly what it is. My mom would say c'mon we are going to the 5 and dime store and

we would go to woolworths. So yeah it's a progression!

[radical noodle]

57. My grandmother worked at Woolworths for years

We just called them Dime Stores. My grandma got all the leftover comic books for me. Such a treasure!

[MountCleaners]

11. Give me a break

People of all incomes shop at these stores. Being ashamed to be seen in a cheapie store is a thing of the past. There are some amazing things you can find there, especially Dollar Tree. Why pay more? Of course a lot of the stuff is cheaply made from China, but then even more expensive stuff is made there. I get all my duct tape and lots of art supplies there. They even have mod podge.

[Blue_true]

22. You are exactly right.

When I drive my brother and go in with him, I see a lot of national branded stuff in the store that he goes to. Surprisingly, it also has the very some of the same bread that I see being sold for much more at Publix and the health food store that I frequent (of course both of the latter also have breads that the Dollar store would never carry because it could not make a profit on that bread).

[xmas74]

26. Our local Dollar Tree and Dollar

General both carry bread and milk.

[TexasBushwhacker]

27. Dollar Tree is my favorite too

They have shelf stable milk (even soy milk if that's your preference) for a buck a quart. It's really handy to have in the pantry. I have 2 Dollar Trees plus a 99 Only store within a mile of my apartment and the homes in the area are $250 to $500K.

[StarryNite]

45. I love Dollar Tree!

But I rarely go to one because none are close to me. My daughter used to live near a different dollar store. She got amazing vegetables and other stuff there. And it was nice because all the produce was wrapped so it wasn't being handled by a bunch of shoppers. I shop at Fry's aka Kroger, which I like but I can't get anywhere near the deals she could get at a dollar store.

[RobinA]

13. Wait...

Dollar stores have produce? I have more dollar stores around me than you can shake a stick at, but I never saw produce there. Is this a west thing? I'm in the Philadelphia 'burbs. We have dollar stores everywhere and more go up every month. They are horrible but I guess a necessary evil for some things. Everybody shops there and seems to love them, not just people who are elderly and on fixed incomes.

I was traveling in the west a couple years ago and we were eating breakfast in Utah. We got to talking to the waitress and she told us that the closest store was WalMart and it was three hours away. Yikes! A really different way of life. You don't forget to get something from the store when you live there! I would have been a little skeptical except we hadn't seen a store in days, so clearly they were few and far between.

[TexasBushwhacker]

28. 99 only has produce

[womanofthehills]

29. Never saw a dollar store in NM with produce

Everything in their store has a gazillion additives listed on their boxes. Does pizza really need 50 ingredients? I once picked up some frozen hamburger for my dogs and when I cooked it, pink slime came out. I would not even give it to my dogs. I still go into the dollar store for paper towels and cleaning stuff. The only thing I found in my dollar store I would eat is Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia and Mexican coke in bottles.

[cbdo2007]

14. Best thing about dollar stores is that many sell the Sunday paper for just $1

And my wife buys a few of them for all the coupons. It is a great deal.

I don't know anything about a backlash against dollar stores but it seems like if dollar stores are your only option where you live why blame them?? You should blame the actual grocery stores that don't put in a better store for you.

[KO_ Stradivarius]

15. This should be a crime against humanity

[img][/img]

I've set foot in a Dollar Store 4-5 times at most, and I'm talking in the span of about 10 years.
Maybe once, I bought something and it was probably something like an ice cube tray.

Whatever food offerings they did have, were mediocre to awful at best.

Maybe some are better than others, but I couldn't imagine going to one as a primary
source for shopping.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

33. What part of 3.5 oz was hard to understand?

Just knowing how tiny it was should keep someone from trying to compare it with a thicker cut.

[KO_ Stradivarius]

52. Tis the beauty of YouTube.

Where anything is possible within the ToS/AUP and is only limited by ones imagination.

[Codeine]

38. What would you expect for a dollar?

The steak came from an animal had to be birthed, sheltered, fed, watered, sold at a profit to a meat processor, killed, slaughtered, processed, packaged, sold at a profit and shipped to a distributor, sold to a profit to Dollar Tree, shipped to a Dollar Tree distribution center, shipped to a store, and then sold to the consumer at a profit.

Every set of hands that touched it had to be paid. Every mile it traveled racked up costs. Constant refrigeration racked up costs. Even assuming it was a loss leader for Dollar Tree the notion that it could be even remotely possible to undertake this process and make money selling a chunk of a cow at retail for a buck is insane, and expecting a big-ass steak for that price is dumb.

[KO_ Stradivarius]

50. It's exactly what I would expect a one dollar steak to be like.

That's what I find somewhat amusing and shaking my head over.

I can understand some people being poor, living on a fixed income, etc
but this crap sets a new standard, lowering the bar on what passes for
food.

Even the packaging is laughable "Tenderized with bromelain... enhanced with up to thirty percent
solution". And the picture of it, looks absolutely mouth watering. I realize all processed food vendors
and fast food chains are guilty of this deception, but one can only push things too far before one has to say
'dude, you gotta be fucking kidding me'.


[img][/img]

[dalton99a]

48. +1

[LeftInTX]

16. I'm wearing jeans that I bought from Family Dollar

Price was not an issue. I couldn't find these in any store. Same with the shorts I bought from them.

Also these stores sell thin socks, which they no longer sell at WalMart and Target

[KY_EnviroGuy]

17. Not many are food deserts, they are healthy food deserts....

because non-perishable processed foods are all these outlets can sell at a profit. I blame the uncontrolled rise of mega-corporations and America's rampant consumerism for this demise in our communities.

Many folks where these stores thrive are low income and many don't have transportation to go to a large store. And, large outlet locations are designed for middle-to-high income areas where driving several miles to a store is the new normal. In most communities years ago (up through the 50s/60s era), a decent old-fashioned grocery store was within walking or biking distance and many had a free delivery truck. Most of these are gone now because Walmart and others put them out of business.

Same with small hardware stores, jewelry shops, shoe shops and family-owned restaurants.

Say goodbye to community and convenience and hello to more billionaire profits.......

[Blue_true]

18. Depends where a person is located.

In my red county, I see Dollar stores all over, Black areas, White areas, mixed areas. The pay scales for most people living here are not great, there is a big wealth gap also, maybe 5-10% wealthy, everyone else living paycheck to paycheck or worse. So, in this county, I think that they serve a need, not everyone can buy 3-4 food items and pay $24 at the register, some people that don't make a lot have big families and need to stretch each dollar.

[MicaelS]

23. I patronize Dollar Stores regularly.

They have great prices on crackers and canned tuna. Plus they have $1 candy no one else has.

[Blue_true]

24. Like everything, people need and want options.

I buy sweet potatoes from a produce selling health food store instead of Publix because the health food store sell the ruby red sweet potatoes (delicious after slow roasting). I would never buy hotdogs from the health food store or cream because Publix has much better options.

I can see you buying canned items and some types of candies from the Dollar store and other items from other places. That is just how life works.

[LeftInTX]

31. I have purchased art from dollar stores - oil paintings

They don't sell them anymore. I got these in the late 90s. I think I paid $15 for the large center pic. Frame included. (Plastic)

Now I mostly buy frames.

[UniteFightBack]

35. I for one love dollar tree and have found many useful things there. It's like the 5 and dime.

We have dollar trees in both black and white neighborhoods here in NY. Everybody loves the dollar tree.

[Codeine]

40. Family Dollar has legit Girl Scout Cookie knockoffs

for $1.75 a box. I’m happy to pay $5 during cookie season because the Girl Scouts are a cool organization, but for the rest of the year I like knowing I can have peanut butter patties.

And plastic food storage containers are cheap there. I like to make huge batches of vegan soups and give them to friends; a cheap storage tub that I’m not worried about retrieving makes it more fun for me.

[pnwmom]

42. What are legit knockoffs? n/t

[Codeine]

43. On target.

Indistinguishable from the real thing.

[pnwmom]

44. IOW, "tasty."

[Codeine]

47. Dangerously so! nt

[House of Roberts]

53. Mint cookies and the caramel coconut ones!

I shouldn't get them but it's four blocks from my house!

[crazycatlady]

54. So does Aldi

[Codeine]

55. Aldi has sprung up everywhere in our area

but I’ve only gone in once. Really need to make it a more regular stop.

[GulfCoast66]

49. I may well get trashed, but my experience is they cater to the demands of their customers.

My family lives in small town North Louisiana. An area that continues to suffer from brain drain. Most of the bright kids who make it to a decent school or technical program go somewhere else.

They have several dollar store but one Halfway decent grocery story that does sell a modest(compared to Publix) assortment of produce.

But you don’t see people buying it. Even my family who can afford fresh or even frozen vegetables(often better than fresh) still insist on canned veggies loaded with sodium even though many of them have hypertension. They say it takes too long to cook the fresh stuff.

The grocery store would stock more produce if people wanted it. But my experience is they do not. Vegetables are an afterthought to many people. Meat, potatoes and rice make up a meal to them. I should add that Onions, celery and green peppers are used a lot as they are the basis of so many Louisiana meals. But in the sauce.

I have seen the pattern repeated when I travel in rural north Florida as well.

Can’t speak for out west.

[dem in texas]

58. Grew up Poor, but the ate salad every day

I grew up in Texas during the 1950's in a family with 6 kids, We were dirt poor, but we ate healthy balanced meals: meat, potatoes or some starch, a cooked vegetable and salad or coleslaw plus a slice of bread and butter. My mother said when she got pregnant with her first baby, she got pamphlets from the local farm agent about healthy, balanced meals and she lived by what the learned in those little pamphlets.

There was always a serving of each food for everyone, seldom had seconds or leftovers, but we were all healthy kids. I learned from her, because I always have a salad, coleslaw or some type of chopped or sliced raw vegetable with a meal. Seldom use canned vegetables except for canned tomatoes. Buy vegetables fresh and cook them.

I have only been in a dollar store a few times, although there 2 within few blocks of where we live. I feel like dollar stores are the modern version of the old five and ten cent stores, those stores also sold a lot of crappy merchandise.

[Liberty Belle]

51. I don't buy food there due to 2 concerns but I love buying

items our nonprofit needs for our events such as inexpensive paper plates, napkins, gift bags and tissue for our prize drawings. Why pay several dollars or more per bag when I can get one for 99 cents and have our charity get more revenues? I also round out charity auction baskets with items like coffee mugs, wine glasses, seed packets/gardening items, and putting together centerpieces for tables at larger charitable events with supplies from the Dollar store. I don't shop there for any personal/family items.

The reasons I won't buy food at a dollar story are 1) concern about quality/tainted products from China and 2) not wanting to take business away from unionized grocery stores. i want to protect those good jobs.

[Neema]

56. I stopped shopping at dollar stores awhile ago. Too much crap made by slave labor

and sold by employees making not much better than slave wages.

[at140]

61. Why disparage low wage workers

Who rather work than not, for the money they need desperately? For crying out loud it is a dollar store to serve people with limlted means. If dollar store paid Publix store wages, it will no longer be a "dollar" store, would it?

[Neema]

63. Not disparaging low wage workers at all. I'm disparaging those who exploit people for their own

gain, namely companies that manufacture and sell cheap products made in sweat shops. If everyone working full-time were making a living wage, we wouldn't need to buy crap from dollar stores. It's all part of the cycle that makes the rich richer on the backs of the poor, and chokes our planet with ever-increasing mountains of cheap plastic crap that breaks and gets thrown out.

[at140]

62. I will soon celebrate my 79th birthday.

At age 50 I had deseased gall bladder, high blood pressure and irregular heartbeats. Retired at 57 because could not handle my job any longer.
To kill time began walking routine, gradually increasing to 25 miles per week. My health began improving and now nearing 79, I am off all meds, and have the energy when I was 30 years old. I eat regularly at McDonald's & Taco Bell. As long as I keep walking 25 miles every week, I can eat any junk food and don't seem to have any ill effects.
Take it from me, regular exercise beats everything else.