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I would concur with that paragraph. When I was driving through South Indiana and Kentucky, I saw dollar store after dollar store after Dollar Store. I would see

I would concur with that paragraph. When I was driving through South Indiana and Kentucky, I saw dollar store after dollar store after Dollar Store. I would see a little town with one to three dollar stores. These little towns all had something in common. They had no noticeable industry, very limited business opportunities, and dilapidated and or dying community. My and assessment, just driving through, is that these towns were all dead ends. I really hate saying that about people because it shouldn't be true. But for all intents and purposes they looked like they were in the last stage of existence.

smelendez 9y ago
But would people still shop at dollar stores if they had more money? I sort of think so--New York is incredibly prosperous, and there are dollar stores everywhere, visited by rich and poor.
- occultist_throw 9y ago
  I can't speak for New York. I've never been there. My experiences are that of portions of the Midwest in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Missouri. Larger places will have Walmarts and will have grocers and more industry. What I see time and again our little towns that are too small to support even a Walmart or a grocery have one or two Dollar Generals. I'm not an economist and not sure what to make of that other than that a Dollar General seem to be pretty cheap to set up pretty cheap to stock and I guess and implicit acknowledgement that these markets are failures for anything other than dinky stores. (edit: android voice to text mistakes)
- quxbar 9y ago
  Uh... What? Not true. Living in NYC for the past 4 years, before that I lived in rural Ohio and Texas. There are no dollar general or dollar tree stores here, just kinda expensive mishmash-of-crap stores, Duane Reades and Rite-Aids.
  - adamqureshi 9y ago
    Hop on the 7 train. Goto jackson heights. Plenty of rink-dink dolla shops. Also check main street flushing.
  - richardfontana 9y ago
    There's Jack's 99 Cent store, which has at least two locations in midtown Manhattan. http://www.jacksnyc.com/ http://www.jacksnyc.com/
- shoover 9y ago
  Yes. At the other end of Indiana there are small towns continuing to do well due to the RV industry (which only seems to grow). At least in the town I'm from the DG is always busy. OTOH in Indianapolis we also have dollar stores but not everyone uses them.
sp332 9y ago
I'm curious how those towns even got started. It's not like there was ever much going on in small towns in Indiana. How did it manage to get even worse?
- drharby 9y ago
  That whole...uh...homestead act thing
- PKop 9y ago
  I think you underestimate the scale and magnitude of the industrial, steel, and auto industry dominance in some of these areas, and then the precipitous decline since. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_Belt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_Belt “Before World War II, the cities in the Rust Belt region were among the largest in the United States. However, by the twentieth century's end their population had fallen the most in the country.” Knowing nothing else about the particulars of why this was the case, it’s easy to see that this change would have drastic consequences for these areas.
- Retric 9y ago
  Farming used to take a lot of manpower. So, the industry was largely what's going on between these small towns. Cars reshaped the landscape as stores / restaurants / movie theaters etc could draw from a large enough population to support themselves. However, farm automation drastically reduced the number of jobs causing young people to move out. Eventually you can't really support much, but the travel distance allows for some shops in these nano towns. Remember, 80 acres used to be a viable small farm. Now 800 acres are generally just a hobby unless your raising livestock and buying a lot of feed.
- taurath 9y ago
  1. It used to be possible to make a bit of a living by doing your own farming. Now if you aren't industrial scale you probably won't even make a profit, let alone a living. 2. Globalization - Look around - there are almost always old warehouses either for food, lumber, or a small manufacturing plant that are run down - usually a few blocks away from downtown. These places one by one couldn't compete manufacturing cheaper goods from china or elsewhere 3. Walmartization - big box stores come in from out of town, suck up all the economic activity, pay people nothing, and ship all of the profits to HQ. Then the walmart closes, and there is nothing left.

smelendez 9y ago

But would people still shop at dollar stores if they had more money? I sort of think so--New York is incredibly prosperous, and there are dollar stores everywhere, visited by rich and poor.

occultist_throw 9y ago
I can't speak for New York. I've never been there. My experiences are that of portions of the Midwest in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Missouri. Larger places will have Walmarts and will have grocers and more industry. What I see time and again our little towns that are too small to support even a Walmart or a grocery have one or two Dollar Generals. I'm not an economist and not sure what to make of that other than that a Dollar General seem to be pretty cheap to set up pretty cheap to stock and I guess and implicit acknowledgement that these markets are failures for anything other than dinky stores. (edit: android voice to text mistakes)
quxbar 9y ago
Uh... What? Not true. Living in NYC for the past 4 years, before that I lived in rural Ohio and Texas. There are no dollar general or dollar tree stores here, just kinda expensive mishmash-of-crap stores, Duane Reades and Rite-Aids.
- adamqureshi 9y ago
  Hop on the 7 train. Goto jackson heights. Plenty of rink-dink dolla shops. Also check main street flushing.
- richardfontana 9y ago
  There's Jack's 99 Cent store, which has at least two locations in midtown Manhattan. http://www.jacksnyc.com/ http://www.jacksnyc.com/
shoover 9y ago
Yes. At the other end of Indiana there are small towns continuing to do well due to the RV industry (which only seems to grow). At least in the town I'm from the DG is always busy. OTOH in Indianapolis we also have dollar stores but not everyone uses them.

sp332 9y ago

I'm curious how those towns even got started. It's not like there was ever much going on in small towns in Indiana. How did it manage to get even worse?

drharby 9y ago
That whole...uh...homestead act thing
PKop 9y ago
I think you underestimate the scale and magnitude of the industrial, steel, and auto industry dominance in some of these areas, and then the precipitous decline since. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_Belt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_Belt “Before World War II, the cities in the Rust Belt region were among the largest in the United States. However, by the twentieth century's end their population had fallen the most in the country.” Knowing nothing else about the particulars of why this was the case, it’s easy to see that this change would have drastic consequences for these areas.
Retric 9y ago
Farming used to take a lot of manpower. So, the industry was largely what's going on between these small towns. Cars reshaped the landscape as stores / restaurants / movie theaters etc could draw from a large enough population to support themselves. However, farm automation drastically reduced the number of jobs causing young people to move out. Eventually you can't really support much, but the travel distance allows for some shops in these nano towns. Remember, 80 acres used to be a viable small farm. Now 800 acres are generally just a hobby unless your raising livestock and buying a lot of feed.
taurath 9y ago
1. It used to be possible to make a bit of a living by doing your own farming. Now if you aren't industrial scale you probably won't even make a profit, let alone a living. 2. Globalization - Look around - there are almost always old warehouses either for food, lumber, or a small manufacturing plant that are run down - usually a few blocks away from downtown. These places one by one couldn't compete manufacturing cheaper goods from china or elsewhere 3. Walmartization - big box stores come in from out of town, suck up all the economic activity, pay people nothing, and ship all of the profits to HQ. Then the walmart closes, and there is nothing left.