Communities are still fighting against dollar stores: "an invasive species"
These widespread discount retailers receive more perspective than ever.
At this point, you can barely travel five miles without meeting a General dollar ,, Dollar tree , Or Family dollar . Even if high inflation has decreased, many buyers have come to adopt the reliable discounts of these omnipresent channels. But not everyone has the impression that lower costs are sufficient reason to support stores at a dollar, and many communities are actively fighting against the expansion of these retailers. Read more to find out why some call stores to a dollar "an invasive species".
Read this then: 5 warnings to buyers of former employees general in dollars .
Dollar General and Dollar Tree opened the most new stores last year.
While many retailers have reduced their brick and mortar locations, the store chains have developed across the country. Dollar General Corp. and Dollar Tree Inc., who also owns Family Dollar, beat all other companies last year in terms of retail growth ,, Wall Street's journal reported.
Combined, the two companies opened more than 1,300 new stores in 2022. Consequently, Dollar General has approximately 18,800 stores in the United States, while it only had 5,000 in the early 2000s. Dollar Tree now has more than 16,000 locations across the country.
But communities have pushed this growth.
The answer to propagation of stores to a dollar has not been uniformly positive. On February 28, the non-profit organization Institute for Local Auto-Rapport (ILR) published a report highlighting part of the decline against these retailers. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB
Since 2019, at least 75 communities have voted proposals for new stores to a dollar, with more than 50 of the proposals rejected in terms between January 2021 and December 2022, according to the report.
The ILSR also found that at least 54 cities and villages have even adopted laws which "strongly restrict new stores to a dollar", including regulations prohibiting opening a new location for less than one to two miles from a store to an existing dollar.
"With stores to a dollar that continue to multiply at a frantic pace ... An increasing number of groups of citizens and local officials are increasing to refuse them," wrote researchers from the report.
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Dollars stores are called "invasive species".
Communities continue to retaliate against these retailers at a reduced price. In Toledo, Ohio, a group of local ministers is currently pushing the city to Prohibit stores In total, Capital B News reported on May 17. The group claims that these channels prevent economic growth and job creation, and aggravate food insecurity for already vulnerable areas - in particular black, rural and low -income communities.
"They are like an invasive species. They master all the resources and make companies in these vulnerable districts. This is where stores to a dollar can prosper," said the Reverend. Donald Perryman , which leads the fight to Toledo, told Capital B. "Whatever the community, the cause of food deserts comes from a road, and it is an economic divestment in vulnerable communities."
Those who oppose store growth like Dollar General and Dollar Tree say that these stores have limited healthy food offers. Beyond that, the apparent product discounts are not much better than in other retailers, when quantity and size are taken into account.
"There are people in the communities that feel:" What do you have against Dollar stores? "… They provide quality things to the poor", senator from the state of Maryland Mary Washington , which represents the city and the county of Baltimore, told Capital B. "When you explain ... they sell preserves which are very close to the day of expiration, or they widen their grocery section, then now We cannot get a complete grocery store in the community ... they get it. "
Dollar General and Dollar Tree postponed this criticism.
In March, General Dollar postponed these criticisms, Better life Whether it works hard to invest and serve communities - with around 75% of its stores in communities with 20,000 residents or less where "other retailers have chosen not to serve".
"We are disappointed whenever we are unable to serve our customers due to a moratorium," said Dollar General in his previous declaration. "We believe that our mission to serve others and our intense customer concentration differentiate the general dollar from other apparently similar retailers, which we demonstrate in communities where we have the opportunity to engage with government and community leaders . We do not think that moratoria is the solution to community concerns such as the availability of healthy food options and competition; on the contrary, we believe that the adoption of Moratoria harms customers who depend on us to help them to extend their budgets, especially in inflationary times. "
For his part, a spokesperson from Dollar Tree told Civil Eats in 2022 decline of certain communities .
"We understand the concerns of many local officials concerning the evolution of the nature of our common communities across the country and - in part of these communities - we are looking for means of helping our neighborhoods to be healthier, safer and safer and safer More prosperous ", the spokesperson said in a press release.
Better life Contacted Dollar General and Dollar Tree about the fight in Toledo, and we will update this story with their response.
