Ten miles to the WalMart or Fareway market instead of 1/2 mile.

Oh there's a Casey's up on the state Highway 150.

7 miles to a Dollar General.

It's the end of an era.

The three dozen people that never go out of this wide spot in the road are going to be hard up.

The 18%-28% higher prices finally nailed the lid on the coffin.
Covid did not help

I have WalMart, Meijers and Gordon Foods nearby. But I have continued to use the Local Yooper grocery stores with the intent of keep my $$$ more local. Prices are more expensive but so far, I will keep trying to avoid the big operators.

Sad news.

The abundance of Dollar Stores certainly hasn’t helped. The small county I’m from has 7 Dollar Stores county wide. Every little burg of 500 now has a Dollar Store.

Man, from my point of view, that's like living without electricity. That really sucks.

Where I live, I'm less than five miles from a Home Depot, Lowe's, Costco, Sam's Club, (2) Wal-Marts, (1) Wal-Mart Market, Macey's Grocery, Smith's (basically Kroger), Target, and a few others, like PetCo. The place has really grown up since I moved here in the 90s.

Oddly enough, I don't think we have a Dollar General or Family Dollar anywhere close. I guess they steer clear of big competition. That Costco is like a big vacuum that sucks up everything. I hate going there unless it's really early in the morning. Good think my wife enjoys the challenge.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Ten miles to the WalMart or Fareway market instead of 1/2 mile.

Oh there's a Casey's up on the state Highway 150.

7 miles to a Dollar General.

It's the end of an era.

I guess it's relative, for me there's a Walmart 28 miles away. A Dollar Store opened in our little town 7 years ago which is only 6 miles away that sure made things handy because all we had prior were 2 gas stations, a feed store, restaurant, and bar. And more recently a little mom and pop store featuring a butcher shop, bakery, limited produce, and staples, opened directly across from the Dollar Store.

quote:

The abundance of Dollar Stores certainly hasn’t helped. The small county I’m from has 7 Dollar Stores county wide. Every little burg of 500 now has a Dollar Store.

Dollar Stores have filled the void left when large grocery distributors, and consequently the traditional little grocery stores they serviced, disappeared. The double overhead model of distributor/small store couldn't be competitive with the giant direct grocery stores such as Kroger, Walmart, etc. But these huge stores don't work in sparse areas so when the little grocery stores closed up there that left a void which Dollar Stores have been taking advantage of.

Dollar stores had a national strategy of placing their locations between population centers and their nearest Walmart. It's worked out well for them, but they have killed many competitors.

The dollar whore is trying to open a store in our quiet suburban area where no other store of any kind exists with the exception of an orchard general store. The closest grocery stores are less than 3 miles away, and the Walmart less than 4. We are fighting the blight on January 16th; wish us luck.

In my old hometown Dollar store just opened. For them it is probably a good thing as the only other business with any groceries is a convenience store. Should be an improvement for those that have difficulties traveling. Store from years back have been long gone so no damage that way.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
The three dozen people that never go out of this wide spot in the road are going to be hard up.

I guess I don't see the "hardship" here, unless they're totally without means of transportation. You're still a mere 7-10 miles from three different grocery options... Lots of folks out there in even more rural areas would love to have just one grocery store that close.

quote:

The 18%-28% higher prices finally nailed the lid on the coffin.

Then it sounds like, even with having to pay a bit more for the gas to get there, they'll be saving money overall on their grocery trips.

Hy-Vee will deliver this far out here but only for orders of $50.00 or more.

Or
They charge $15.00 for orders under &50.00

quote:

Hy-Vee will deliver this far out here but only for orders of $50.00 or more.

It doesn't take much to spend $50.00 on groceries these days. That sounds like a good option.

If you do not have a car it is a problem. Lack of hardware stores is more of a problem. Lost skilled people and replaced by Home Depot with unskilled people.

12 of them don't drive, so they rely on a neighbor or church person,
20 of them don't have or use the internet,
Another ten are either mentally or physically unable to get into the big city.

We all thought this day would have come 15 years ago

I don't think I've spent $25.00 there in the past five years.

I think they were down to 6 full time and 6 part time employees.