Submitted by pem4423 t3_10d23x1 in RhodeIsland
In Warwick on Warwick Avenue alone, starting at Park Avenue, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Job Lot, Dollar General, ends in Meadowbrook with a Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and a Big Lots all in the same plaza. A Dollar Tree in Airport Plaza for good measure.
>These stores are essentially the corporate equivalent of breaking up a pack of cigarettes to sell loosies.
Great analogy.
When prices started going up, I did some price shopping at dollar stores, Costco type stores, and regular grocery stores. For what we use regularly, the regular grocery stores are the cheapest.
Lots of research on this, nationally. See, for example:
In part, it says: "What often goes unnoticed is the economic distress and imprisonment of poverty that the rise of dollar stores creates."
also food deserts
Great paper; thanks for sharing!
On Main Street in West Warwick, there is a Dollar tree, Dollar General, and Family Dollar. All on one street. All within a couple buildings of each other. Take that information and surmise what you will.
So dollar stores are one of the "type" stores to look for in real estate investing when you're trying to determine the class of rental/tenant in a neighborhood. Having one near a place doesn't automatically make that area have an abundance of the class of rental associated with them, but it is rather looked at as a whole. On one block is there a dollar store, a check cashing place, a laundromat, and a payday loans center? You're probably looking at Class C. Panera bread, Lululemon, a Starbucks, and a Chase Bank? You're probably in a Class A neighborhood/maybe upper Class B if it's all in a shopping center.
E.g. https://morrisinvest.com/blog/2016/12/2/whats-the-difference-between-and-a-b-and-c-neighborhood/
There are many other factors though, and again it's looked at as a whole not just as "dollar general is in the neighborhood guess it's class C now" or something like that.
Funny you should mention Chase. It’s definitely a bougie banking brand (outside of NYC, where they have branches even in lower income neighborhoods).
The west end has all of these within a few blocks of extremely expensive rents, tbf. Those have been anchor stores over there for a decade at least.
I went into a a few dollar store chains when they first opened nearby and wasn’t super impressed. The prices weren’t that much better than BJ’s and the quality and quantity of the merchandise was generally poorer.
If you shop around, you can generally find higher quality stuff for a similar price at Target, BJ’s and even Wally World.
I agree with you, but to many perception is reality, "It's only $1.25." And sadly they don't understand that not only are they losing out on quality but also paying MORE based on quantity.
Agreed with all of the above. Plus the workers seemed unhappy and stressed out, which also concerned me. I try to patronize retailers who treat their workers well (which is admittedly hard to do in retail).
I think lots of people do understand that they're paying more, but have issues with cash flow.
I know many people are sitting there thinking, "well, why don't they have the self control to just save up and get ahead so that they can save money in the long run?" But for someone really living at the margins, it may be a struggle to set aside $50 or $100 a month. At that rate, it's really, really easy to have your tiny cushion that you've built up over 6 months eaten up by an emergency expense like car trouble or reduced work hours and then you're back to scraping by on $1.25 of shampoo until the next paycheck.
100 percent agree with everything you just said. And frankly, I think that's the plight that these companies exploit.
This
It’s one of the places I’ll go if there’s one or two random things I can’t find somewhere else and I want to avoid driving half an hour to Walmart or Target. I probably won’t find it at a dollar store either, since they’re often a disorganized mess, but sometimes I’ll get lucky.
there is a dollar general in tiverton. that’s a nice town
And Tiverton residents fought against it because they didn't want to appear "low income". 😂
I think that was more about Tiverton not having chain/box stores
There are two Dollar Generals in Tiverton now, about five miles apart from each other.
Oh Tiverton. Always trying to be as grumpy as Little Compton.
Part of Tiverton is "nice" and part of it isn't, really.
…and you’re not going to see a dollar store in Tiverton Four Corners.
More like Twenty Dollar General.
Dollar store everywhere Woonsocket
Coventry and West Warwick are now overrun with them now too. It's a perfect telling of how the economy is.
Yep. There's three Family Dollars, three Dollar Trees, and Two Dollar Generals all within a few miles of each other.
Curious if that new building on 117 right on the WW Coventry line is going to be a Dollar General as well.
Across from Clariant? That's exactly what it's going to be. :(
Is it really? I was just guessing. Damn.
From what I have read Dollar General tends to target locations that are otherwise underserved by other stores within a couple of miles and try to open within walking distance for a majority of the area it serves. Thats why you will some times see a few in a single close location.
They do try to target low to middle class areas as that is where they have the most success.
I feel like 15 years ago gas stations were popping up everywhere and like7 years ago banks started popping up everywhere. Now I'd say for the last 3 year dollar store type stores are popping up everywhere. I'm sure in 5 years it will be something else
Banks appeared as a result of all the consolidation. Back in the 1990s, for instance, you had Fleet, Bank of Boston, Shawmut, BayBank and Bank of New England all on corners around RI. Every single one of those institutions is now Bank of America. Citizens filled the vacuum to an extent, Chase is launching a major market entry, and smaller banks and credit unions have come back to challenge B of A for share.
But we likely have fewer bank branches and choices in banking than our parents in the area had.
My town did the bank thing a few years ago and now the new thing is it just gained three car washes.
Considering when I was on a weekend getaway in bumfuck NH and it was the only store around, I’d say yes.
So I did a quick map of the West Warwick/Coventry "Dollar Tour"
Starting at the Dollar Tree in Cowesett Ave WW one can visit four Family Dollars, three Dollar Trees, and three Dollar Generals in just over 30 minutes and ~11 miles of driving.
if you go the opposite direction, you end up pretty close to the Dollar Tree in the Target plaza on Bald Hill Rd. too :)
I think they’re building one in South Kingstown, that’s not a poor area.
Oh there's a poor area there though. Over behind where pasty's liquors used to be. By the rotary
Oddly enough it is right next to the police station. As for the area you mentioned, there used to be a cheap corner store trying for that same income bracket but it didn't last too long.
I think a big part of it is the fact that there’s no big box store serving the URI population, except for the Walmart up by Wickford Junction which is still 15-20 minutes away
Located near the low income housing section and the senior assisted living home. It's walkable by both areas.
Yes, they are, but it’s by far not a “poor” section, especially compared to the areas in Warwick that look like developing nations.
Good point.
It depends on which of the "dollar" stores you're talking about regarding "value," but Dollar Tree has some very good deals. [ Note that due to recent inflation, everything in the store used to be sold for $1, but is now $1.25. ] Examples of very good bang for your "buck" are 100 count bottles of aspirin, off brand "Draino," name brand tooth brushes, multi pack Duracell batteries, Christmas decorations/ nick knacks, pens and paper goods, plastic food containers......to name just a few things. All of these items are priced about 20% of what you'd pay at a CVS or supermarket. The snob factor and the perception of low quality ( vis a vis the general low quality of all the items we buy that are made in China ) of the stores offerings are what keep a lot of people away. Similarly, many "high-end" stores or outlets offer the same goods of similar quality ( often packaged more attractively ) at substantially higher prices because their customers will pay more for what they think is better quality.
Agree with everything. I regularly stock up on personal care/household cleaners/plastic food containers. Best Dollar Tree deal in the universe is the Assured Triple Blade Women’s Razor - one on the handle and two backup blades. Thank me later. We got some beautiful Christmas ornaments there this year, also. They’ve really upped their game with decor in general. I don’t care if it’s from the DT, if it will look good in/on/around my house, I’m buying it.
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Is Lincoln considered low income? There’s Dollar tree in Lincoln mall. I feel like there’s one every town
The family that lives in that median 500k Lincoln house has never stepped foot inside a Dollar Tree.
True
I have read that this is the case.
>“The business model for these stores is built on saturation,” said Julia McCarthy, senior policy associate at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest and a critic of dollar stores. “When you have so many dollar stores in one neighborhood, there’s no incentive for a full-service grocery store to come in.”
They’re definitely present in higher-income places. There’s a brand new Dollar General in South Kingstown, and Smithfield has had a Dollar Tree for years.
Lol I live there, but I wouldn't consider this area low income
Dollar General store count?
Perhaps in big metro areas they are placed more strategically? But we have one down here on aquidneck island in Portsmouth which is not considered low income. And in my travels to NH I've seen them in high tourist areas with super nice houses. So I think maybe it's a bit of both. Rich people love a deal too. Half the time they're cheaper than the low income people 🙄
There's two in EP, but one was part of the Benny's deal. Did all Benny's locations become Dollar Generals or Dollar General/Ace Hardware? The one in EP became DG and the one in Seekonk became DG/Ace
If Arctic was nuked, how would anyone know? It’s a real mess now.
There’s one in Portsmouth so no
Same thing with traffic cameras
Yes because Rhode Islanders are low income, we are a welfare state, so there us go!
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MonicaPVD t1_j4jsley wrote
It's expensive to be poor. A product sold at these discounters, when measured by cost/weight or cost/volume, is always more expensive than the same brand at a major retailer. These stores are essentially the corporate equivalent of breaking up a pack of cigarettes to sell loosies.