Ain't that the truth.
Sure, you can get a roll of aluminum foil for $1 at Dollar Tree, while a roll is $4 at Kroger. But the Dollar Tree roll is only 25 feet long, while the Kroger roll is 200 feet. And that $1 screwdriver in the tools section is made of chinesium and will either break or have the tip get warped if you have to use it on anything tough.
That all said, Dollar Tree is THE place to go for party favors. Gift bags for $1 when they'd cost me $5-12 anywhere else? That's a steal! I mean, sure they won't have licensed Disney/Nickelodeon/etc. cartoon characters on them, but I don't think even the kids notice.
Thats the first time I have heard of that. Using it from now on, thanks haha.
Both survive because they are convenient and close. I can get a gallon of milk 20 miles away at Walmart or ALDI for $1.00. A gallon of milk at one of these stores is $4.00.
I don't believe it's sustainable, and the more the economy becomes de-localized, the less it can be realistically sustained. I think small towns like this are in for further decline the more centralized commerce becomes. It saddens me to say this, but many of these small towns don't provide much for the current big company driven economy, so why should the big companies care?
I'm gonna need to see some sources to back up this claim.
If you can't/wont be competitive on price well the selectman better be your friend. When the selectman is your friend you need not fear competitors. Their site plans will be bogged down in red tape and bureaucracy.
> It doesn’t take a lot of capital to open a store
Real estate and labor is still a significant expense. Outside of unionized grocery stores, it's not like store clerks in New York City or San Francisco are making $25/hr.
But to even open a small convenience store you need to purchase tens of thousands of dollars in stock, plus have enough reserves to keep your store operating, able to turnover product, for at least 6 months of negative cash flow. This applies even if you're not franchising.
Basically, even in a rural area your startup costs are easily in the $100,000 to $200,000 range for a small store--at least for anything bigger than a bait shop. Plenty of people in rural areas could secure that kind of financing using mortgages, but once you factor in risk of failure and opportunity costs, you need a pretty significant pool of potential investors before you can expect one of them to take the plunge, and in rural areas the available pools are just too small.
Opportunity cost is a huge deal. Somebody with enough assets to secure a $200,000 loan _and_ who is prepared to lose it all, is probably going to see a significant cut to their earnings compared to what they could be making elsewhere. This is why you see so many immigrants as shop owners--their opportunity costs are effectively lower, by dint of them being first-time players in the local economy, than a native with equivalent assets.
Similarly, outside corporations have to answer to shareholders. Even though well-financed corporations could easily open more stores while still making a profit, such capital has more earning potential elsewhere.
The upshot of all of this is that 1) rural consumers pay significant rents for living in comparatively uncompetitive markets, and 2) theoretically there's ample opportunity for a philanthropic entrepreneur to improve the quality of life of a rural town by strategically opening small stores with more competitive prices. Indeed, professionals who retire to a small town and open a small store are often effectively doing exactly this. (Similar to how well-heeled spouses in large cities burn money on boutique shops, except compared to the retired couple they have less need to actually be profitable, or care about whether they'll put someone else out of business.)
My observation has been that they seem to carry the kinds of things that never expire -- high profit, low turnover, little spoilage. Lots of soap, spam and cornflakes, but you wouldn't find many fresh vegetables.
I go there all the time due to the convenience. It is a mile to Walgreens and a block and half to DG.
Just be sure to check dates on the diet soda as it is often old enough that the sweetener that is no longer sweet.
Edit:
The candy at DG is always top notch. No fear of sugar at the DG.
I think a lot of the appeal of Dollar General, in particular, is that they're selling name brand goods at reasonable prices, close to where you are. Instead of driving or taking the bus to the Kroger or Walmart, you can stop in at the nearby Dollar General. Their stores are more like Walgreens or CVS without pharmacies than like traditional "dollar stores."
Dollar Tree is a little bit different--they are a traditional dollar store, where everything is $1 or less and the offerings reflect that. You have to hunt for the bargains that are actually worth it, and some of their aisles have omissions that only make sense because of the price limit (like the tools section won't have hammers).