Does this make sense to you?
I live in a very small town in North Carolina. We have a Main Street, a post office, a hardware store, a drugstore, a Piggly Wiggly and, of course, the ever present Dollar General. As a matter of fact there are at least 10 Dollar General stores in our County.
Now I have to admit that our County is rather large but that’s a lot of Dollar Generals. Then we also have a Dollar Tree, which is my favorite. They actually stick to the “one dollar per item” (which is not true of most of these other discount places, including Dollar General) and their quality isn’t bad for the price.
Now, picture this. About three months ago I noticed a new building being constructed in our small town. I couldn’t imagine what it might be because it would seem that our needs are met and the larger stores such as Walmart, Belk’s, Lowe’s, etc. are just a short drive away…all of them in our County.
For the longest time there was no hint as to what this new business would bring to our community. The location was very central, next door to the grocery chain and almost directly across from the Dollar General.
Imagine my surprise when they finally installed the store’s name above the entrance. It is none other than a brand new FAMILY DOLLAR !!
Does that make any sense at all? I know that these things are thoroughly researched before a location is chosen but I can’t, for the life of me, see how these two businesses will survive. On the few times that I’ve been in the Dollar General I’ve never had to buck a crowd. Were do they think the customers are coming from?
It is also interesting to realize that all of this is occurring during the recession which we are all experiencing. Oh, well, someone thinks it will work…and we’ll see
posted by Ginnie at 2:23 PM
9 Comments:
We once had two movie rental places in the same shopping center not far from us. When the second one was being built, I asked the manager of the first one what he thought about it and he said that they would each do well, because when store #1 was out of a movie, store #2 might have it. He was wrong - and now he's out of business.
We do have 2 gas station/quick shops beside each other not far from here and both of them do well, so I suppose it doesn't follow the same way in every location.
In our area, there seems to be a pharmacy on every corner. In fact, there are several places with Wal-Green's across the street from CVS or Rite Aid.
We live in a town of ~10,000, and it's odd what's here now — Wal-Mart, Home Depot, another big building supplies store (Rona), and Staples.
We had a crappy Buck or Two but when Dollarama came in the former soon faded from view — no great loss.
Not far from me there is a Starbucks with a drive through. Directly across the street is a Starbucks without a drive through. They both are flourishing.
Louis Black said he had seen the end of the universe and it was in Houston. He was referring to those two Starbucks.
Maybe it's occurring BECAUSE of the recession. People perceive they are making money go further by shopping at discount places.
As far as the store builders having done research--no, my dear. My suspicion is that it is capitalism plain and simple--drive out your competitor if you can.
I do like those stores and there aren't any here in Santa Fe although there are some out in the county. I think they are expanding now because they are cheap and their prices are what people think they can afford.
Sometime when types of stores are in the same place they generate more traffic than on alone can. Instead of driving across town or to another town one need only go across the street.
What ever happened to the "five and dime" store. Inflation!
So funny Ginnie, we have 3 dollar shops and they are supposed to have everything two dollars..imagine my dismay when I find items that are priced well above that. Once I went into a shop and queeried it... the little lady in the shop could not answer my question. A clothes drying rack priced at $20..lol
That does seem rather silly...but I hope it works out for both of them.
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