As the chain opens stores at the rate of three a day across the US, often in the hearts of ‘food deserts’, some see Dollar General as an admission that a town is failing
When Dollar General came to Haven, Kansas, it arrived making demands. The fastest growing retailer in America wanted the taxpayers of the small, struggling Kansas town to pick up part of the tab for building one of its squat, barebones stores that more often resemble a warehouse than a neighbourhood shop.
Dollar General thought Haven’s council should give the company a $72,000 break on its utility bills, equivalent to the cost of running the town’s library and swimming pool for a year, on the promise of jobs and tax revenues. The council blanched but ended up offering half of that amount to bring the low-price outlet to a town that already had a grocery store.
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