Remix.run Logo
DangitBobby 3 days ago

Then feel free to explain the studies and articles online describing how dollar stores are fucking rural grocery stores.

phil21 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Explain why rural customers prefer the dollar store to the grocery store? Are they just stupid and don't know what's best for themselves?

Perhaps the rural grocers are not carrying the appropriate product mix for their current (new?) customer base, and are overvaluing customer service?

I don't like it - but I also spend time in rural communities and see why these places beat the local grocers. They offer better value for the dollar. Often they are indeed cheaper on a unit cost basis, much less overall per transaction.

It's sort of like folks screeching about "food deserts" in urban communities I've lived in, thus enacting laws forcing fresh produce be carried by the local convenience stores. That produce simply rotted on the shelves since - surprise! - the local business owners knew their customer base better than a bunch of do-gooder ivory tower academics did.

You can make some strong cases for Walmart putting Main Street rural America out of business using predatory pricing schemes and the like. It's a lot more difficult for dollar stores.

DangitBobby 3 days ago | parent [-]

They do not offer better "value on the dollar" they offer units that individually cost less but over a year of buying what you need to survive you pay more. That's how items are generally priced; smaller packages, higher unit price (as in, price per ounce).

You shouldn't say "screeching" if you want to be taken seriously, it makes you sound shallow and dismissive, incapable of understanding how your narrow outlook is not applicable in some situations.

Please, take even the most basic efforts to understand what people are talking about here instead of forcing me to shove information down your throat like you haven't learned how to use an internet search yet. You don't need my help, and nothing I can say will be more convincing than your own personal research.

mbesto 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

> They do not offer better "value on the dollar" they offer units that individually cost less but over a year of buying what you need to survive you pay more. That's how items are generally priced; smaller packages, higher unit price (as in, price per ounce).

Does the consumer not have all of the information available to them to make the comparison of the per unit cost between a dollar general and a local grocery?

DangitBobby 2 days ago | parent [-]

Is information availability the only constraint keeping people from making optimal choices?

3 days ago | parent | prev [-]
[deleted]
terminalshort 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don't see anything that says they are "fucking" them. I see plenty that they are out competing them. People get to choose to go to whatever grocery store they like.

DangitBobby 2 days ago | parent [-]

Perhaps you you are motivated to believe that it's just "markets" at play. Monopolies and extortionate power don't exist, anyone who wins deserves to win, etc. Here is the top search result when I search for "dollar stores killing grocery stores" in Kagi.

> When dollar store chains open, it almost always cuts into the sales of local businesses. At first glance, it might seem like this is simply the nature of competition. But dollar stores use their hefty market muscle to make it virtually impossible for other businesses to successfully compete. With plenty of cash from shareholders and institutional investors, chain dollar stores have the resources to lose money indefinitely in a community until their competitors have folded.

> For many businesses, losing even a small percentage of sales can put the business at risk of failure. There are many types of businesses whose products overlap with chain dollar stores and that are therefore vulnerable, including hardware, small appliances, toys, reading materials, greeting cards, and health and beauty supplies. With dollar stores averaging around 10,000 square feet in size and sales of around $260/square foot, a typical Dollar General captures over $2 million in sales every year — and those sales are likely coming out of the cash registers of businesses already there.1

> This is an enormous problem for grocery stores in particular, which have razor-thin profit margins. Cutting into a grocery store’s sales even a small bit can endanger its survival. Food is what customers buy most often in dollar stores,2 making dollar stores a clear threat to grocery store survival or creation. And grocery stores’ profit margins are higher on items other than fresh produce — things like processed, prepackaged food and snacks — which is the bulk of the food that dollar stores sell. Peeling off just enough sales of packaged food can send a grocery store into the red.

> There are many examples of grocery stores that closed when a dollar store opened nearby...

https://ilsr.org/article/independent-business/17-problems/

qeternity 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

How about you cite something.

DangitBobby 3 days ago | parent [-]

https://substack.perfectunion.us/p/dollar-stores-are-killing...

qeternity 2 days ago | parent [-]

This does not prove, at all, what you are claiming.

DangitBobby 2 days ago | parent [-]

K