Dollar store mania: Six in and near a town of 1,400

Daily Mail map

A Dollar General store opened in Olive Hill, Kentucky, pop. 1,400, 50 years ago. Since then five more dollar stores have opened, all but one on the same road, U.S. 60, reports Keith Griffith for the Daily Mail. "In the Appalachian foothills, the town has two Family Dollar locations and four Dollar General stores. . . . leaving some residents wondering: Why so many dollar stores? Dollar General, like other major retailers, uses an algorithm to suggest new store locations. . . . Still, residents greet the recent explosion of dollar stores with a mixture of amusement and bewilderment."

"Just over the past couple years they’ve really started popping up," Jeremy Wells, editor of the Carter County Times, the local weekly, told Griffith. "People aren’t really upset by them, but they are a little puzzled." Griffith writes, "Over the past decade, dollar stores have been the fastest-growing food retailers by share of household expenditure, with growth in rural areas more than doubling, according to a recent study. . . . But critics noted health concerns about their food offerings, which skew toward high-calorie, ultra-processed packaged foods. . . . Dollar General has responded to this criticism by launching fresh produce sections in thousands of its stores, including several in Olive Hill." 

This Dollar General is also known as the ‘Olive Hill
Walmart.' (Photo by Keith Griffith, Daily Mail.com)

Christopher D. Merrett, director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University, told Griffith that in some cases, a new dollar store can be a boon to rural areas where local businesses have shuttered; however, "If you are a small town that does have an existing grocery store, it's more complicated. It's not unilaterally positive. . . . We don’t want it to be a zero sum game, where a new store takes business from a longstanding locally owned business. It could force that existing grocery store to close."

Griffith notes, "Dollar General has expanded aggressively in rural areas and small towns, typically seeking out areas that are at least 20 miles from the nearest Walmart or major grocery chain. . . . its biggest footprint is in Southern states, and roughly 75% of Dollar General stores are in towns with populations under 20,000. . . . ‘We serve millions of Americans who may not have affordable food options nearby,’ Dollar General said in a statement."

The first Dollar General in the county was a "totally different experience," Wells said, with "a limited selection of mostly low-end dry goods," Griffith writes. "Olive Hill residents jokingly refer to the Dollar General closest to downtown as the ‘Olive Hill Walmart’ due to its wide variety of goods, including a small produce section stocked with fruits and vegetables." The town also has a Sav-A-Lot discount grocery. It is the birthplace of the late Tom T. Hall, country songwriter.