How dollar stores conquered rural America

The pros and cons of the dollar-store boom

Lesson summary

Hi there everyone, it’s Jeff and this is Plain English, where we help you upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. Listen here and you’ll get exposure to new words, new concepts, all in English. And you’ll learn about the world—and often the English-speaking world—in the process.

Coming up today: If you’ve never been to a dollar store in the United States, you are missing a big part of the shopping experience for many, many people. In fact , there are ten times more dollar stores than there are Walmarts. But not everyone loves dollar stores. Today, you’ll learn about what they are, where they are, why they’re so valuable, and what people think about them.

In the second half of the lesson, I’ll show you what it means to “fall out of fashion.” That’s the expression.

This is lesson number 687. That means the full lesson is at PlainEnglish.com/687. And that is all thanks to JR, the producer.

Dollar stores dominate rural America

It’s funny how you associate large brand name stores with the decades in which they became popular. In the United States, people might think of Woolworth’s in the 1950s, Sears in the 1970s, and Walmart in the early 2000s.

What would that store brand be in the 2010s and 2020s? It might surprise you, but many Americans would associate these years with dollar stores. The three big brands in the U.S. are Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar.

Dollar stores have an interesting history. They started as novelties—small, mom-and-pop stores would acquire an eclectic variety of merchandise. They’d buy in bulk at liquidation sales. They’d get food that was about to expire, clothes that had fallen out of fashion , or packages that were dented or damaged.

Then, they’d get the cheapest building in town and sell everything for a low price—every item in the store cost just one dollar. That’s how they got their name: dollar stores.

The concept was popular with shoppers—it was as much entertainment as it was shopping. Bargain-hunters sifted through piles of merchandise, hoping to find a good deal.

Over the years , dollar stores expanded and consolidated, and today they look much different. Gone are the days of dented soup cans and piles of out-of-fashion clothes. Now, you’re likely to find a wide variety of merchandise, from packaged food to cleaning supplies to pet food to basic hardware to, yes, clothing.

And though the prices are higher than a dollar, they’re still very, very low compared to other stores. In the consumer’s mind, dollar stores sit between convenience stores and grocery stores. They have a greater variety, and lower costs, than convenience stores. But they don’t have as much selection as large discount stores like Walmart.

There are dollar stores in urban, suburban, and rural areas. And the dollar store experience is a little different in each place. In wealthier, suburban areas dollar stores are about convenience and bargain-hunting. This is where you might go to get party supplies.

In urban areas, dollar stores like to be within walking distance of their customers, many of whom don’t have cars.

But dollar stores are most associated with rural areas. Dollar General is the largest chain of dollar stores in the U.S.; they are the ones you find in small-town America. The chain says that 75 percent of its stores are in towns with fewer than 20,000 residents.

Many towns have lost their local or national grocery stores—if they ever even had one. And in the most remote areas, the nearest Walmart or supermarket might be an hour away, or more. Even if Walmart is only 30 minutes away, not everyone can spare the time or gas money to get there on a regular basis.

Dollar General thrives in these rural areas: they pop up close to where people live, especially when there aren’t many other options nearby.

Here’s a number that will shock you: there are about 50,000 dollar stores in the United States. That’s ten times more stores than Walmart has. Think of every McDonald’s in the United States; think of every Starbucks. Add them together—and that’s still not as many locations as dollar stores.

But for all their popularity, not everyone likes dollar stores. When dollar stores open, other local businesses find it hard to compete. Critics say that dollar stores perpetuate something called “food deserts”—areas in which there’s little or no fresh, healthy food available.

Dollar stores do have food—but it’s usually frozen meals and high-calorie, packaged food with little nutritional value. When they open, they can squeeze out locally-owned stores that might carry more fresh food.

There are also areas where there are several dollar stores along a single highway: in some places, it seems like the only shopping option available is these discount stores.

There are also safety concerns. Dollar stores keep prices low by keeping their own costs low. That means they usually have fewer employees in the store—sometimes just a single person late at night. And they don’t spend as much on security cameras, lighting, and store maintenance. All that means they can be magnets for crime. Some locations lose a lot of money to theft. Dollar store shootings are not uncommon.

Despite all this, dollar stores are a lifeline for a lot of people. While it’s true there’s little fresh or healthy food there, it’s also true that without a dollar store, many rural residents wouldn’t have anywhere local to shop. And in big cities, not everyone has a car. Dollar stores are close to where people live—that’s important if it takes a long time to get to the nearest grocery store.

Jeff’s take

When I think of a Dollar General, I think of a quiet town, a quiet highway, not much else open. The store is a plain box—just a cheap rectangular building with a yellow sign on the front. Go to PlainEnglish.com/687, and you’ll see a picture of a very typical Dollar General.

When I think of Family Dollar, I think of a strip mall in a city or a suburb.

Actually, I used to live down the street from Family Dollar. And I would go there when I ran out of dishwashing detergent or something. The in-store experience was not great. It was never clean. Stuff wasn’t in the right place. It just looked run down and dirty. Shelves were sometimes empty, sometimes overflowing. But it was cheap and it was right there. That’s the value proposition in a nutshell.