Booming business at dollar stores shows widening gulf between haves and have-nots during pandemic

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Business

Booming business at dollar stores shows the widening gulf between haves and have-nots during pandemic

With rising inflation and disproportionately high job losses among low-income earners, more Americans are relying on dollar stores for groceries and other everyday needs

By Abha Bhattarai
Today at 7:00 a.m. EDT

Kyle Dishman can’t afford to shop at the local grocery store anymore. Instead he goes to Dollar General, where he can make $40 stretch into a week’s worth of groceries and the occasional can of motor oil for his Chrysler 300.

He sticks with pasta, frozen pizza and canned vegetables, fully aware that “any food you can buy for only $1 is not the greatest for you.” But Dishman says prices have gone up so much that he’s started rationing his food.

“When you only have a certain amount to spend, it’s like, why not just go to the dollar store?” he said.

A growing number of Americans are relying on dollar stores for everyday needs, especially groceries, as the coronavirus pandemic drags into its 18th month. Chains such as Dollar General and Dollar Tree are reporting blockbuster sales and profits, and proliferating so quickly that some U.S. cities want to limit their growth. The 1,650 dollar stores expected to open this year represent nearly half of all new national retail openings, according to Coresight Research.

Foot traffic at the largest such chain, Dollar General, is up 32 percent from pre-pandemic levels, far outpacing the 3 percent increase at Walmart, one of the few retail winners of last year, according to Placer.ai, which analyzes shopping patterns using location data from 30 million devices.

Analysts say the explosive rise of dollar stores is yet another example of how the pandemic has reshaped the economy and widened the gulf between the wealthiest and poorest Americans. Rising grocery prices — inflation is up 5.4 percent from last year — coupled with disproportionately high job losses among low-income workers have left many of the most vulnerable Americans in even worse shape.

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By Abha Bhattarai
Abha Bhattarai is the national retail reporter for The Washington Post. She was previously a reporting fellow at the New York Times. Twitter https://twitter.com/abhabhattarai

[Hoyt]

1. Get the point. But I know people who go all over town looking for Dollar Tree,

who could afford to go elsewhere.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Oh, I know where they are. A new one opened nearby a few months ago. NT

[jimfields33]

3. I do. Why pay 3.50 at Publix when you can get same item for a dollar

I shop at Winn Dixie, Publix and dollar store all for different things. Love all three.

[Hoyt]

4. I know. There are even groups that rate the different Dollar Trees.

[jimfields33]

5. That's interesting. I hadn't heard that.

[MichMan]

6. In small town America they are ubiquitous

[stevebreeze]

7. Here is the trajectory

It was once true that Sears was the store of choice, kind of middle class
then Kmart
then Walmart
now dollar stores.

[ck4829]

8. K&R