My family lived in a smallish town for a while, and I've gotta say that chain stores were a godsend. We did business with local shops whenever we could, but the stock variety was inherently much smaller than we found at Target (or even Dollar General). Much as we would have preferred to be able to pay our neighbor $1.50 for an item, it was awfully nice to find nicer items for $1 at the chain place. Don't get me start…
> I definitely want to support my neighbors, but I don't want to buy Local Brand Ketchup. I want Heinz, darnit. For the love of God, why??
Small Town America vs. Big Box Stores
31–40 of 79 posts
Re: Small Town America vs. Big Box Stores
#32> "we're not against change, we're not against business, if you want to open a nice little coffee shop and bookstore, but Dollar General just isn't quite a good fit." this line stood out to me because it mirrored a lot of debate in my small rural community when a dollar general proposed moving in (spoiler alert: DG won). the debates around DG had a way of exposing some previously-unseen class and economic divisions i…
Yes, people do unfairly call me a NIMBY but ultimately I’m just trying to make sure that the thing that is being built in my backyard is community-oriented, socially-responsible, ethical, environmentally conscious, and built by local artisans using local materials. And if we can’t do it right, then maybe we shouldn’t do it.
Is this satire or are you actually serious with that nonsense? I can't even tell.
Re: Small Town America vs. Big Box Stores
#33> "we're not against change, we're not against business, if you want to open a nice little coffee shop and bookstore, but Dollar General just isn't quite a good fit." this line stood out to me because it mirrored a lot of debate in my small rural community when a dollar general proposed moving in (spoiler alert: DG won). the debates around DG had a way of exposing some previously-unseen class and economic divisions i…
“it wasn't a NIMBY vs YIMBY thing -- both wanted development” This distinction isnt the most important point here but this is very much NIMBY-ism. Blocking a development because the community has different opinions about what should be built, particularly opinions they don’t want to fund via their tax dollars is basically textbook NIMBY-ism.
It doesn’t have to be tax dollars funded. It’s about what they “want” and don’t “want”. It’s about having an opinion, almost entirely shaped by self interest, and not caring about anything else. That’s textbook NIMBY-ism.
Re: Small Town America vs. Big Box Stores
#34My family lived in a smallish town for a while, and I've gotta say that chain stores were a godsend. We did business with local shops whenever we could, but the stock variety was inherently much smaller than we found at Target (or even Dollar General). Much as we would have preferred to be able to pay our neighbor $1.50 for an item, it was awfully nice to find nicer items for $1 at the chain place. Don't get me start…
> I definitely want to support my neighbors, but I don't want to buy Local Brand Ketchup. I want Heinz, darnit. For the love of God, why??
Probably because they've become accustomed to the taste so that taste is what their brain associates with as Ketchup. Switching to someone's local brand that will have a different recipe/formula (probably a lot less sugar), the taste will be different. To their brain, this is not ketchup rather some tomato paste sauce.
Obviously, ketchup is not going to be the only thing that this fits. Pretty much any processed food sold in the US under major labels are going to be loaded with sugar that decent folks would question why it's being used.
Re: Small Town America vs. Big Box Stores
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dollar General is a mega corporation that can operate on an entirely different level than local stores. They pay their workers less and the profits go out of state. On a store-by-store basis though, Dollar general is a fragile establishment, management will not hesitate to abandon the location if they are spending too much money propping up the store. And the overhead for these stores is higher than it needs to be -…
They can also operate at a loss until they drive out all competition, and then raise prices - so that you probably end up at the same prices as before (or worse) - but with a much worse quality product (i.e. how they achieve better margins).
Or open up more stores then the region can support, remove the local competition, and then close theirs stores as uncompetitive. The small town (population One or two successful businesses makes a huge difference at that level. If something happened to their one large employer, a food factory, then they'd really be in trouble. The other businesses are restaurant sized at the largest.
Re: Small Town America vs. Big Box Stores
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There's no button to press in a DG that says "sell more eggplants please". Yes, there is. They absolutely manage stock based on demand, as does every other chain store.
As someone who worked at a corporate-private-equity-owned Dollar store (but not DG, specifically), I highly doubt that's true. They "manage stock on demand" in that they count SKUs sold and replenish as needed / as they have availability, sure. And they probably do a inventory / count day once in a while, to account for loss(shrink). But that's about it. They might occasionally get to pick from a few custom options f…
“Managing stock on demand” is entirely driven by what the store stocks in the first place. Dollar stores often don’t store fresh produce and if they do, it’s not the best, nor is it the variety you need in a community. No amount of filling up feedback forms is going to convince the corporate overlords to change that because “profit”. Our local community supermarket got bought out by Safeway. Everything from less processed pasta to multigrain baked nacho chips disappeared in favor of generic big brand stuff. The meat counter shrunk and the seafood counter almost disappeared. But you could now get 20-30 types of sausages because they come packed, sodium infused and stay on the shelves for months. The locals kept sending feedback, but nothing changed. I stopped shopping there and eventually moved out of the neighborhood because I could.
Re: Small Town America vs. Big Box Stores
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, people do unfairly call me a NIMBY but ultimately I’m just trying to make sure that the thing that is being built in my backyard is community-oriented, socially-responsible, ethical, environmentally conscious, and built by local artisans using local materials. And if we can’t do it right, then maybe we shouldn’t do it.
That's a great attitude if you can afford it. But try telling it to the single low-income parent trying to raise their kids who just needs to make ends meet at the end of the month. Unless you have a massive wealth redistribution plan in place, with massive, extremely progressive local taxes so everyone can afford the massively higher prices you'll be forcing on everyone?
An angle on that: Imagine getting rid of the big cost factor, the car. And having a walkable neighborhood with school, stores, medical care, workplaces in workable (or short bicycle ride) away.
Of course this won't magically happen when a single DG is rejected.
Re: Small Town America vs. Big Box Stores
#38I _love_ Strong Towns but I want to push back against this article. Strong Towns is a leading voice on YIMBY, but this is reminiscent of the common arguments I hear from NIMBY folks..."they shouldn't be allowed to build here because ____" is definitionally NIMBY. While I don't love Dollar General or shop there very often, I have a hard time understanding why it's a "swindle." The reason people shop there is because t…
> While I don't love Dollar General or shop there very often, I have a hard time understanding why it's a "swindle." In the case of Dollar General specifically, it is literally a swindle, with high levels of violations of deceptive pricing laws (higher prices at checkout that marked) — and which has followed up on those by removing customer-facing POS screens in many stors, high levels of weights and measures violati…
That may be the case, but that’s not the point the article is making.
Obviously if they’re breaking the law, they should be held accountable.
Re: Small Town America vs. Big Box Stores
#39I _love_ Strong Towns but I want to push back against this article. Strong Towns is a leading voice on YIMBY, but this is reminiscent of the common arguments I hear from NIMBY folks..."they shouldn't be allowed to build here because ____" is definitionally NIMBY. While I don't love Dollar General or shop there very often, I have a hard time understanding why it's a "swindle." The reason people shop there is because t…
Being YIMBY for everything is just as absurd as NIMBY for everything. If you're not making the call on a case by case basis for what you think will be best for the community and you, then you're just being dogmatic.
Re: Small Town America vs. Big Box Stores
#40On aside, visiting Mexico City now and I went to Sears and Woolworths. These are extinct in the US but could we still consider them Big Box Stores?