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from the nothing-in-that-store-costs-1$-anyway dept.
In a Washington Post story picked up by the S. Louis Post-Dispatch, reporter Rachel Siegel asks the question "Are dollar stores a response to poverty - or a cause?"
The fundamental premise of the story is
fear the stores deter other business, especially in neighborhoods without grocers or options for healthy food. Dollar stores rarely sell fresh produce or meats, but they undercut grocery stores on prices of everyday items, often pushing them out of business.
this creates what is referred to by one patron as a 'food desert'
their unstoppable rise...keeps grocers from opening.
implications are made
With fewer options for fresh food and health care, people in a North Tulsa ZIP code have an average life expectancy of 11 years less than those in South Tulsa, according to a 2015 city report.
"It creates an overall sense of the neighborhood being run-down," said Stacy Mitchell, [of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance]. "It's a recipe for locking in poverty rather than alleviating it."
Contrariwise, these stores
are a vital source of cheap staples
The last Dollar General to open is across the street from a senior citizens home. That store, Henderson said, is a lifeline to residents.
the council thinks it's appropriate for city government to pick winners and losers in the economy.
and while not typical, some do indeed sell fruits and vegetables
grapes, apples, avocados, potatoes sandwiched between bags of fried pork skins and cases of Michelob Ultra.
It's Walmart all over again in a way.
Grocery stores run on thin profit margins - usually between 1 and 3 percent. And they employ more workers than dollar stores to keep perishable food stocked.
"It's no longer the big-box grocery store" that threatens local businesses, said David Procter, a Kansas State University professor who studies rural grocery stores. "But it's the discount retailer that's coming to town and setting up shop right across the street."
Some localities have added restrictions on the stores, for example
Mesquite, Texas, a Dallas suburb, approved changes to its zoning code last year that will limit the number of dollar stores. The guidelines prevent them from opening within 5,000 feet of each other. And stores must dedicate 10 percent of floor space to fresh food.
Tulsa is working to solve the 'food desert' problem they attribute to the stores
This month, a deal was reached with ECO Farms, a local company that focuses on indoor vertical farming to solve food deserts. Two company executives, Jim Bloom and Adam James, said that while this is their first try at a grocery store, they're intent on making healthy food a reality in District 1 - not a luxury.
"We're attending to this as a human right, not a geographic privilege," James said.
However, as the article notes - "grocery stores have struggled here before"
The nearest dollar store to me is about four-five miles (15 minutes or so) on busy backroads. My experiences with them are lack of selection and significant product gaps. Very hit or miss and you just have to go shop somewhere like Kroger or Publix afterwards anyway to finish out your list, so I don't bother as I don't have the time to spend on the extra commute and double shopping.
If everyone was like me dollar stores might not be experiencing the success they very obviously are.
So how about some other perspectives? Do Soylentils love them or hate them? Is this a first world problem?
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Monday February 18 2019, @07:23AM (1 child)
Actually at Aldi, I really have not had any quality issues with their food.
Their fruits and vegetables are just as good as anywhere else, and yes, they even have organic fruits and veggies as well. All while being cheaper than the mainstream supermarkets.
Their meats are also fine, I have not had a problem with them. They do not have a butcher (at least none of the stores I have been in) so everything is pre-packaged frozen or refrigerated meats. I admit that I have received significantly higher quality mouth watering cuts of meat elsewhere, but I also had to pay a premium for it. At Aldi, I get a better quality for the price than at other places, but they generally do not have the high-end cuts. (i.e. you are not likely to find your pre-tenderized prime rib or suckling pig at Aldi, but what you do get there tastes fine.)
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday February 18 2019, @03:18PM
I have to say that I've started buying most of my beef from Aldi in the past couple years, and I find them consistently better than most of the standard grocery chains. You're right -- they don't have a butcher, but I disagree that they don't have "high-end cuts." They just have specific ones: you can always find rib-eye steaks or strip steaks, and they generally have certain cuts that are hard to find in most grocery stores (e.g., they almost always have skirt steak, which I quite like, but it's difficult to find elsewhere except if you go to a real butcher). Roast selection tends to be poor -- I haven't bought as many, but mostly it's chuck and some round pot roasts. Yet those are the most popular roast cuts, so it's good enough for me. (I speak from visiting several Aldi stores in a few different states, so some of this may be regional.)
But yes, they won't have "prime rib" (if you mean a rib roast), but neither do a lot of standard grocery stores except around the holidays or if you do a special order. Most times I've asked a regular grocery butcher what they have in terms of rib roasts, they look at me funny, and then perhaps tell me they can cut me a boneless one (out of the stuff they usually cut the rib eye steaks from).
Anyhow, I don't eat steak often, but these days I almost exclusively buy mine from Aldi, unless I splurge and go to a real butcher. After years of sampling "premium" steaks from grocery stores at premium prices, I usually find about a 30-50% "dud" rate -- that is, about half the time, I find the grocery steaks to be flavorless and/or with gristly fat or whatever. I paid $15/lb+ for crap.
At Aldi, I can get a somewhat thick-cut cheap ribeye and only get a 10-20% dud rate. It's still not as good as a real decent butcher, but it's a lot cheaper and I don't feel like I'm getting ripped off as much as at other grocery stores. Heck, a few months ago Aldi had prime ribeye steaks on a special buy at $15/lb., and the one I ate was among the top 5 steaks I've ever eaten in my life (and that's including some high-end steakhouses). I haven't seen that again at Aldi, but my experience has generally been positive.
I'm not going to claim Aldi stocks great meat, and yes, they don't have a huge variety. But for beef selections lately, I've been impressed compared to most stores. Other meats (chicken, pork) range from fine to pretty good. It's not going to replace a real butcher, but I'd shop for meat there over most grocery chains any day.