Dollar General is a chain of convenience stores that sell a variety of cheap goods. They have more than 15,000 locations across the United States, that’s more branches than McDonalds.
Dollar General says they offer customers an affordable and convenient shopping choice, but some small communities in northern Michigan say they undercut local business.
Jacob Wheeler with the Glen Arbor Sun says several of them have tried to stop stores like Dollar General from opening.
"The opposition is often built around saying that they don't fit with the character of a local town," Wheeler says. "The quality of goods, or lack thereof, is one of the other points of opposition."
You can read Jacob Wheeler's full article here.
Dollar General provided the following statement to IPR:
"When choosing store locations, meeting customers’ needs is Dollar General’s top priority. The company looks for places where we can offer customers an easy and convenient shopping choice. We know convenience is a major factor in our customers' shopping decisions as we generally serve customers within a three to five mile radius, or 10 minute drive. We also take demographic trends, competitive factors, traffic patterns and community concerns into consideration. Dollar General sells quality, name-brand and private label merchandise such as health and beauty products, home cleaning supplies, housewares, stationery, seasonal items and basic clothing. We also sell an assortment of packaged food, as well as some refrigerated foods and frozen foods, but we are not a full-service grocery store. We offer value and convenience to customers who might need several items in between grocery trips, and we are complementary to local grocery stores."
