How Dollar Stores Became Magnets for Crime and Killing

[bayford]

That's the title of a new investigative piece by ProPublica and The New Yorker that deals primarily with Dollar General and Family Dollar in low-income neighborhoods.

https://www.propublica.org/article/how- ... nd-killing

[storewanderer]

If these dollar stores were not operating in these tough neighborhoods (or tiny towns), there would be no store at all. I suspect there would still be crime too in the case of the tough neighborhoods. I would argue the stores help the neighborhoods by providing products, a few jobs, and one less vacant building in the tough neighborhoods and one less empty lot in the tiny towns.

Yeah they are no Wal Mart but these rough neighborhoods (or tiny towns) aren't getting a Wal Mart. There is no standard for operations with these stores but if you find one that is neat and orderly (they do exist in both chains) they actually have a good mix of products at great prices and the purchase process is fast and easy.

I do believe with their prices they probably can't afford security.

[buckguy]

They try to keep labor to below 5% of their costs---adding security isn't going to hugely raise their prices. The article notes that Dayton (one of the places in the piece) uses all manner of modern policing. Relying on police doesn't help. It's obvious that their own personnel practices and in store management are lax--being slow to electronic payment and not being able to keep only small amounts in the till.

Dollar stores basically replaced locally owned stores in urban neighborhoods---the Korean, Arab, etc. bodegas owned by immigrants----a long tradition that Jews, Italians and, to a lesser extent Irish people people had carried on before them. There will always be entrepreneurs that are wiling to go into places that others won't.

[Alpha8472]

The dollar stores need to change their policies. If they have no security, then they are going to have a ton of theft and many robberies. Security will reduce losses and make up for the increased wage cost. The stores also need higher quality cameras and more security cameras in the parking lots.

Walmart has invested in very high quality security cameras and even portable cameras in the parking lots. It does help to deter crime. These dollar stores need to realize that it might cost a little bit more, but if it reduces robberies and shoplifting the improvements will be worth it.

[storewanderer]

The price point of items at these dollar stores is typically under $10. I think this is by design, because they know they have a lot of theft. They have a lot of locking shelves in some locations that are rarely actually locked up at least in the ones I shop at (all of which you could call "rural").

Basically these stores cut a lot of corners to be able to survive, on their (low) price points, on their (low) volumes, in their (high crime and or extremely remote and not densely populated) locations.

On Google Maps there are photos inside a Dollar General in Sun Valley, NV documenting the poor condition of the merchandise. This is by far the worst Dollar General I've ever come across, as far as not being able to get its shelves stocked and clutter. It has been in this condition now for the past couple of years and nobody does anything or cares. This is the same store where I was once overcharged (scan error) and the cashier issued me a refund from his pocket saying he had no way to do a refund or price override on the register because he was the only one there and the manager has the override key. I was so embarrassed I just paid the higher price. I don't know who the District Manager is or if that position even exists in this chain but there is no way this store is being visited. The one in Colfax, CA was similar the one time I went into it, but not this bad, as are some of the other rural ones (Portola, Susanville) nearby. Yet there are other Dollar General locations that are neat as can be and perfectly orderly in the same general vicinity (Washoe Valley, NV; Greenville, CA; Gardnerville Ranchos, NV).

[TW-Upstate NY]

Considering the nearest full-line grocery and nearest Wal-Mart and Target are probably 8-9 miles away or so, the Dollar General closest to my house does very well. For a small footprint, they sure know how to cram a lot of SKU's into the space they have. And the prices are pretty much rock bottom-very competitive with Wal-Mart. I do have to concur about the clutter though. It seems that most times I'll go there (doesn't matter what time of day) there are at least a few aisles blocked by "cages" of stock waiting to be put on shelves. Checkouts are usually not manned because the cashiers are expected to stock as well between customers. This becomes a huge issue when the place is busy and the cashier is at the register with customers which of course results in freight getting backed up in the aisles and not on the shelf. The prices keep you coming back though. I do have to wonder how much this store has been impacted by the re-opening of the very small market in the village a few months ago. Don't know if it was a reaction to that, but this store has been reconfigured recently. They moved the coolers to the opposite wall and the aisles now point in a different direction. Checkouts are now to the left of the entrance instead of straight ahead as you walked in. You'll notice I called this a reconfiguration and not a remodel. I say that because this is a similar floorplan of another local store which has had this set-up since it opened well before the store in question. The older store is also in an existing building while my local store was a new build. I find it quite unusual they'd use a much older floorplan and pass it off as an upgrade especially in a new build store vs. one they moved into some years before the new build store opened.

[pseudo3d]

If these dollar stores were not operating in these tough neighborhoods (or tiny towns), there would be no store at all. I suspect there would still be crime too in the case of the tough neighborhoods. I would argue the stores help the neighborhoods by providing products, a few jobs, and one less vacant building in the tough neighborhoods and one less empty lot in the tiny towns.

Yeah they are no Wal Mart but these rough neighborhoods (or tiny towns) aren't getting a Wal Mart. There is no standard for operations with these stores but if you find one that is neat and orderly (they do exist in both chains) they actually have a good mix of products at great prices and the purchase process is fast and easy.

I do believe with their prices they probably can't afford security.

Yeah, the dollar stores are going to be in the places where nobody else is, whether it's a very small town or a neighborhood that ran off its other chain stores years ago. I doubt that security would really help either, as policies and laws prevent LP personnel from doing much in the way of deterring crime or shoplifting.

[storewanderer]

I think the Family Dollar in Michigan where there was a killing a couple months ago had a security guard. But personally I've never seen one of these stores with a security guard. I've been into some of the ones in those "bad suburbs" around FL and MO during daylight hours but never at night; maybe they have security at night. Not something I will go look into firsthand.