live_tv
Livestream Starting Soon
00
Hours
:
00
Minutes
:
00
Seconds
Up next in 10
For 70 years, thrifty customers have been able to buy their groceries at the one-stop-dollar shop and not break the bank in the process. But at some point, you gotta start wondering how they can sell everything for such low, low prices and not only stay in business, but seemingly open new stores as frequently as one opens a door?
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
For 70 years, thrifty consumers have been able to buy their groceries at the one-stop dollar shop
0:05
and not break the bank in the process. But at some point, you gotta start wondering how they can sell everything for such low, low prices
0:14
And not only stay in business, but seemingly open new stores as frequently as one opens a door
0:19
Well, today, we're feeling like a million bucks as we figure out how Dollar General sells food for so cheap
0:26
Way, way back in 1939, Tennessee farmer and traveling salesman James Luther Turner noticed a depressing trend
0:37
which made sense because the Great Depression had been in full swing for years
0:41
During his travels, Turner saw a lot of general stores going out of business, able to be bought up on the cheap
0:47
Along with his son, Cal Turner Sr., the Turners liquidated these defunct stores and built a wholesale dry goods business with the plundered goods
0:55
Back then, big city department stores would run what they called dollar days promotions
1:00
placing several items in their stores at a buck each for a short time, driving in stampedes of foot traffic
1:06
Inspired by this, Calv's seniors saw serious potential in single price point retail
1:11
meaning a store where every single item costs the same amount. In 1955, the father-son duo converted Turner's department store in Springfield, Kentucky, into the very first Dollar General
1:22
But lest you think all Dollar General low prices come from scamming their customers their main strategy for keeping prices so low comes from operational efficiency
1:33
paired with some specialized bulk purchasing. This allows Dollar General to offer prices 20 to 40% cheaper than an average grocery store
1:41
The stores are small, which minimizes overhead costs, and it fills those 8,000 square feet with as many of these most popular brands and sizes they can fit
1:49
These smaller portioned items technically cost less at Dollar General than a Walmart or Target
1:54
but the portions are much smaller, making it a worse price per ounce overall
1:58
When it's not selling abridged versions of popular products, Dollar General stocks the shelves with its own private label offerings like Clover, True Living, and Smart & Simple
2:06
These lower-cost, off-brand items reduce costs for DG and customers alike as passable alternatives to brand-name products
2:15
Aside from its constant turf war with other dollar store companies, like Family Dollar or Dollar Tree
2:21
the DGC has been dealt some pretty significant backlash from employees, the government, and even late-night hosts
2:27
The most common complaint with stores like Dollar General is their tendency to create food deserts
2:32
low-income, often urban areas where there aren't a lot of options for healthy, affordable food
2:36
And Dollar General has been accused of a pricing scam where items will show one price on the shelf
2:40
but a different, much larger sum at the registers. Dollar General has also been the ire
2:45
of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for years. with their shady store operational practices
2:51
As alleged in an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
#Retail Trade
#Food & Grocery Retailers
#Discount & Outlet Stores