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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://ilsr.org/dollar-stores-target-cities-towns-one-fights-back/">https://ilsr.org/dollar-stores-target-cities-towns-one-fights-back/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<h1 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:37.5pt">
<span style="font-size:34.0pt;font-family:"Roboto Slab",serif;color:#004A6E">Dollar Stores Are Targeting Struggling Urban Neighborhoods and Small Towns. One Community Is Showing How to Fight Back.<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="postauthortop"><b><span style="font-size:8.5pt;color:#3A97AD;text-transform:uppercase">BY <a href="https://ilsr.org/author/marie/" title="Posts by Marie Donahue"><span style="color:#3A97AD;font-weight:normal">MARIE DONAHUE</span></a> AND <a href="https://ilsr.org/author/stacym/" title="Posts by Stacy Mitchell"><span style="color:#3A97AD;font-weight:normal">STACY
MITCHELL</span></a> | </span></b></span><b><span style="font-size:8.5pt;color:#3A97AD;text-transform:uppercase">DATE: </span></b><span class="postday"><span style="font-size:8.5pt;color:#3A97AD;text-transform:uppercase">6 DEC 2018</span></span><b><span style="font-size:8.5pt;color:#3A97AD;text-transform:uppercase"> | </span></b><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Filsr.org%2Fdollar-stores-target-cities-towns-one-fights-back%2F&t=Dollar%20Stores%20Are%20Targeting%20Struggling%20Urban%20Neighborhoods%20and%20Small%20Towns.%20One%20Community%20Is%20Showing%20How%20to%20Fight%20Back.&s=100&p%5burl%5d=https%3A%2F%2Filsr.org%2Fdollar-stores-target-cities-towns-one-fights-back%2F&p%5bimages%5d%5b0%5d=https%3A%2F%2Filsr.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F12%2FThomas-Hawk-Dollar-General-Flickr-CC.jpg&p%5btitle%5d=Dollar%20Stores%20Are%20Targeting%20Struggling%20Urban%20Neighborhoods%20and%20Small%20Towns.%20One%20Community%20Is%20Showing%20How%20to%20Fight%20Back." title=""Share on Facebook" t "><span style="font-size:1.0pt;color:#3A97AD;text-transform:uppercase;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="32" height="32" style="width:.3333in;height:.3333in" id="Picture_x0020_11" src="cid:image021.png@01D4B7D9.6754BD60" alt="Facebook"></span></a><a href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet/?text=Dollar%20Stores%20Are%20Targeting%20Struggling%20Urban%20Neighborhoods%20and%20Small%20Towns.%20One%20Community%20Is%20Showing%20How%20to%20Fight%20Back.&url=https%3A%2F%2Filsr.org%2Fdollar-stores-target-cities-towns-one-fights-back%2F" title=""Share on Twitter" t "><span style="font-size:1.0pt;color:#3A97AD;text-transform:uppercase;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="32" height="32" style="width:.3333in;height:.3333in" id="Picture_x0020_10" src="cid:image022.png@01D4B7D9.6754BD60" alt="twitter"></span></a><a href="http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Filsr.org%2Fdollar-stores-target-cities-towns-one-fights-back%2F&title=Dollar%20Stores%20Are%20Targeting%20Struggling%20Urban%20Neighborhoods%20and%20Small%20Towns.%20One%20Community%20Is%20Showing%20How%20to%20Fight%20Back." title=""Share on Reddit" t "><span style="font-size:1.0pt;color:#3A97AD;text-transform:uppercase;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="32" height="32" style="width:.3333in;height:.3333in" id="Picture_x0020_9" src="cid:image023.png@01D4B7D9.6754BD60" alt="reddit"></span></a><a href="mailto:?subject=Dollar%20Stores%20Are%20Targeting%20Struggling%20Urban%20Neighborhoods%20and%20Small%20Towns.%20One%20Community%20Is%20Showing%20How%20to%20Fight%20Back.&body=Share:%20https%3A%2F%2Filsr.org%2Fdollar-stores-target-cities-towns-one-fights-back%2F" title=""Share by email" "><span style="font-size:1.0pt;color:#3A97AD;text-transform:uppercase;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="32" height="32" style="width:.3333in;height:.3333in" id="Picture_x0020_8" src="cid:image024.png@01D4B7D9.6754BD60" alt="mail"></span></a><b><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#3A97AD;text-transform:uppercase"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">It’s not easy to buy groceries if you live on the north side of Tulsa, Okla. This predominantly African American part of the city sprawls for miles and yet does not have a single, full-service
grocery store.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">For many of North Tulsa’s residents this means their best option for buying groceries close to home (and really, their only option) is a dollar store. There are dozens of those. Dollar
General, together with Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, which are owned by the same company, have more than 50 locations in Tulsa. Many are on the city’s north side. Alongside aisles lined with clothing and household goods, these small stores offer a narrow
selection of processed foods, such as canned peaches and cereal, cookies and frozen waffles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">There are no fresh vegetables, fruits, or meats in most dollar stores. And yet, as limited as their offerings are, dollar stores are now feeding more Americans than Whole Foods is, and
they’re multiplying rapidly. Since 2011, the number of dollar stores nationwide has climbed from about 20,000 to nearly 30,000. There are now more dollar stores than Walmart and McDonalds locations combined.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Although dollar stores sometimes fill a need in places that lack basic retail services, there’s growing evidence that these stores are not merely a byproduct of economic distress. They’re
a cause of it. In small towns and urban neighborhoods alike, dollar stores are leading full-service grocery stores to close. And their strategy of saturating communities with multiple outlets is making it impossible for new grocers and other local businesses
to take root and grow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">“I don’t think it’s an accident they proliferate in low socio-economic and African American communities,” says Vanessa Hall-Harper, who grew up in North Tulsa and in 2016 won a seat
on the City Council to represent the district that encompasses the area. She campaigned on a platform of public health and food security. “That proliferation makes it more difficult for the full-service, healthy stores to set up shop, and operate successfully.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">As our maps of Tulsa show, dollar stores have largely side-stepped the city’s whitest neighborhoods and have instead concentrated in census tracts with more African American residents.
Indeed, the presence of dollar stores appears to correlate much more strongly with race than with income.</span><a href="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-Tulsa-Dollar-Store-Map-FINAL.png"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#F47C46;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="1024" height="724" style="width:10.6666in;height:7.5416in" id="Picture_x0020_7" src="cid:image009.png@01D4B7D7.65943390" alt="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-Tulsa-Dollar-Store-Map-FINAL-1024x724.png"></span></b></a><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">One reason for this link might be that dollar stores see an easier revenue stream in places that lack competing grocery stores. In the case of Family Dollar, for example, “’Food deserts’
are its sweet spot,” notes Ann Natunewicz, an analyst at Colliers International. The absence of grocery stores is, in turn, a direct result of a history of racial discrimination by banks that have been less likely to lend to African American entrepreneurs
and by supermarket chains that have tended to bypass black neighborhoods.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">For residents of North Tulsa, the consequences of this economic marginalization have been severe. “There has been a documented 14-year life expectancy gap between North Tulsa and South
Tulsa,” points out Hall-Harper. This startling disparity, she says, speaks to “the situation and environment, and how these systemic issues work.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.3pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:25.5pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-family:"Roboto Slab",serif;color:#004A6E;font-weight:normal">“I don’t think it’s an accident they proliferate in low socio-economic and African American communities,” says Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper. “That proliferation makes
it more difficult for the full-service, healthy stores to set up shop, and operate successfully.”<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">A deep desire to change these systems and improve the health of people in her district drove Hall-Harper’s decision to run for Council.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Last April, after more than a year of rallying community members, marshaling legal research, and steadily chipping away at the opposition, Hall-Harper finally convinced the City Council <a href="https://ilsr.org/rule/dollar-store-dispersal-restrictions/"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">to
enact a measure</span></b></a> that limits dollar stores on Tulsa’s north side and encourages the development of full-service grocery stores.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">This is the first ordinance in the country to specifically target dollar stores, and its passage is being felt both locally and nationally. It’s marked a new era of political inclusion
and grassroots power for the city’s African American residents. It’s also focused national attention on the growth of dollar stores and inspired other cities and towns to take steps to check their spread.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">The timing for such local action could not be more urgent. In their latest annual reports, Dollar General and Dollar Tree say they have identified thousands of new locations for dollar
stores. The two chains are planning to expand their combined empires to more 50,000 outlets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:25.5pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<strong><span style="font-family:"Roboto Slab",serif;color:#004A6E">An Invasive Species in America’s Left-Behind Places</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Roboto Slab",serif;color:#004A6E;font-weight:normal"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">“Essentially what the dollar stores are betting on in a large way is that we are going to have a permanent underclass in America,” Garrick Brown, a researcher with the commercial real
estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-10-11/dollar-general-hits-a-gold-mine-in-rural-america"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">told </span></b><em><b><span style="font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#F47C46;text-decoration:none">Bloomberg</span></b></em></a> last
year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Alongside urban black neighborhoods, another place the dollar chains think they will find enduring poverty is rural America. Small towns have been <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sarahmiller1/democrats-win-rural-america-but-what-broke-it"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">battered
by corporate consolidation</span></b></a>. Mergers have triggered plant closures. Agribusiness giants have slashed farmers’ incomes. As a result, rural communities have experienced little in the way of new business and job growth during the current economic
recovery, <a href="https://eig.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/recoverygrowthreport.pdf"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">new data show</span></b></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<a href="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Dollar_Store_Growth_Chart-FINAL_2.png"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#F47C46;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="500" height="688" style="width:5.2083in;height:7.1666in" id="Picture_x0020_6" src="cid:image025.jpg@01D4B7D9.6754BD60" alt="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Dollar_Store_Growth_Chart-FINAL_2-745x1024.png"></span></b></a><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">This
follows two decades in which Walmart’s super-charged growth left small-town retail in shambles. By building massive, oversized supercenters in larger towns, Walmart found it could attract customers from a wide radius. Smaller towns in the vicinity often suffered
the brunt of its impact as their Main Street retailers weakened and, in many cases, closed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Today the dollar chains are capitalizing on these conditions, much like an invasive species advancing on a compromised ecosystem.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Local grocers that survived Walmart are now falling to Dollar General. “This has become the number one challenge of grocery stores,” says David Procter, an expert on community development
and director of the Rural Grocery Initiative at Kansas State University.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Until this year, the small town of Moville, Iowa, had managed to defy the odds. The nearest Walmart is nearly 20 miles away and residents are passionate about supporting their community.
When the owners of the town’s only grocery store, Country Foods, decided not to rebuild after a devastating fire in 2008, residents quickly organized. They raised funds for a new building and enticed Chet Davis, who owns a grocery store in Kingsley, about
12 miles up the road, to open another location. For a time, Chet’s Foods did a good business from its crisp new building along the state highway that runs through town.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Then, in 2016, Dollar General opened. Sales at Chet’s Foods fell by 30 percent. Davis, a veteran grocer, tried to adjust. He cut staff hours, changed his product mix, and negotiated
a rent reduction from the community development group that owns the building. But it wasn’t enough. Even though residents were still buying most of their groceries from Chet’s, the drop in sales was enough to push the store into the red. Chet’s closed this
year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Six hours south, in the town of Haven, Kans., the family-owned Haven Foodliner also shuttered this year. “We lasted three years and three days after Dollar General opened,” owner Doug
Nech told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/13/dollar-general-walmart-buhler-haven-kansas"><em><b><span style="font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#F47C46;text-decoration:none">The Guardian</span></b></em></a>. “Sales dropped and just
kept dropping.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">The stories of Chet’s Foods and the Haven Foodliner are not anomalies. Reports from local grocers in numerous communities suggest that it’s typical for sales to drop by about 30 percent
after a Dollar General opens. Thin margins in the grocery business mean that such a disruption is generally enough to force a local grocery store to close, although it may take months or even years before the owner finally gives in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></div>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">As a consequence, local grocery stores, which have anchored small town economies for generations, are fast becoming as rare in rural areas as they are in North Tulsa.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">When a town loses its grocery store, the rest of the local economy suffers. “The problem is that if the grocery store closes, this impacts the town in a big way,” Procter explains. “Our
research shows grocers are barometers for other businesses in town: as goes the grocery store, so goes other independent businesses in that community.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">One immediate effect is a decline in employment. Dollar chains rely on a lean labor model. Dollar General and Dollar Tree stores have a staff of eight or nine people on average, according
to their annual reports. Small independent grocery stores employ an average of 14 people, according to federal data.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Local shoppers lose nearby access to fresh food and they may also end up paying more for groceries. Dollar stores package many of their products in smaller quantities than items sold
at traditional grocery stores. This cuts sticker prices, but often results in a higher costs per ounce.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">There are broader economic impacts too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.3pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:25.5pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-family:"Roboto Slab",serif;color:#004A6E;font-weight:normal">“The economy is continuing to create more of our core customer,” Dollar General chief executive Todd Vasos told investors last year.<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">“Rural grocers provide all kinds of value: economic value, nutritional value, social value, and more,” he adds. In many cases, this includes delivering groceries, a critical service
in rural areas, where the population tends to be older and not served by public transit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">This cascade of losses is a bitter outcome for communities that, in many cases, welcomed the arrival of a dollar store. “For many communities, it’s the first new commercial investment
in many years,” says Chris Merritt of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<a href="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/dollar-store-state-map.jpg"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#F47C46;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="600" height="450" style="width:6.25in;height:4.6875in" id="Picture_x0020_5" src="cid:image026.jpg@01D4B7D9.6754BD60" alt="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/dollar-store-state-map-1024x768.jpg"></span></b></a><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">The
parallel between these rural towns and urban neighborhoods like North Tulsa suggests that America’s real divide is not so much rural versus urban. Rather, it’s between the few large and mostly coastal cities that are prospering in an economy increasingly dominated
by a few corporate giants and the many other cities and regions that are being left behind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">“The economy is continuing to create more of our core customer,” Dollar General chief executive Todd Vasos told investors last year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><a href="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/USDA_Map_Grocery_Change_2005-2015.png"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#F47C46;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="600" height="411" style="width:6.25in;height:4.2812in" id="Picture_x0020_4" src="cid:image027.jpg@01D4B7D9.6754BD60" alt="USDA_Map_Grocery_Change_2005-2015"></span></b></a><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">The
number of grocery stores has declined in 969 counties, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (This map is from the USDA’s 2017 study, “Independent Grocery Stores in the Changing Landscape of the U.S. Food Retail Industry.”)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">As corporate consolidation erodes the economic foundation of many towns and neighborhoods, these communities are increasingly vulnerable to the dollar chains. The sector itself is highly
concentrated. Dollar Tree is the product of a long <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_Tree"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">history of mergers</span></b></a>, including, most recently, its acquisition of Family Dollar in 2015. Even though that deal
left just two companies in control of most of the small-store discount market, the Federal Trade Commission approved it. (The FTC <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2015/07/ftc-requires-dollar-tree-family-dollar-divest-330-stores"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">stipulated</span></b></a> only
that Dollar Tree divest about 330 stores, but that requirement ultimately failed to produce a new competitor: Dollar Tree sold the stores to a private equity firm, which within two years, <a href="https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/dollar-general-acquire-323-stores"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">sold
them to Dollar General</span></b></a>.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Fortunately, some have started connecting all of these dots and are beginning to see dollar stores as both a symptom of larger economic trends and a cause of additional economic despair.
With this knowledge, these communities are identifying strategies to control the growth of dollar stores and restore a more balanced local economy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:25.5pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<strong><span style="font-family:"Roboto Slab",serif;color:#004A6E">Tulsa’s Dollar Store Ordinance</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Roboto Slab",serif;color:#004A6E;font-weight:normal"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">One way to understand the high density of dollar stores in her district, Hall-Harper says, is to <a href="https://ilsr.org/dollar-stores-blp-episode-59/"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">remember
what happened in North Tulsa a century ago</span></b></a>. The neighborhood once boasted one of the nation’s most successful African American business districts, nicknamed “Black Wall Street.” But over the course of a few days in 1921, a white mob tore through
the commercial district, destroying more than 1,000 buildings and leaving 300 people dead.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">The long-term effects of this are still being felt today. The neighborhood has relatively few local businesses and has struggled with a lack of political power to control dollar stores
and other predatory companies. Today, though, these dynamics are starting to shift, as residents organize and show how policy change that rebuilds a healthy food system and local business community can underpin the broader goals of social and economic justice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">After taking office, Hall-Harper opened two fronts in her campaign to address the lack of healthy food and proliferation of dollar stores in North Tulsa. First, she started researching
policy tools, such as <a href="https://ilsr.org/rule/formula-business-restrictions/"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">“formula” business restrictions</span></b></a>, that could block new dollar stores and open opportunities for full-service grocery stores instead.
In the spring of 2017, she called for a short-term moratorium on new building permits for dollar stores. Pressing the pause button, she explained, would give the city time to craft a permanent policy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">But the city’s legal department, Hall-Harper says, was slow in doing the research and preparing language for the moratorium. In the meantime, a developer filed plans for yet another
Dollar General in the neighborhood, this one just down the block from an existing Family Dollar. “I felt [the city was] procrastinating, so the developer could get a building permit,” she says.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">That led Hall-Harper to open a second front in her campaign: she rallied residents to <a href="http://www.newson6.com/story/36450352/north-tulsans-protest-new-dollar-store-call-for-grocery-stores"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">protest</span></b></a> the
new Dollar General and pressure the mayor and City Council to act. “To my knowledge, this was probably one of the first times a city councilor from Tulsa was out actively organizing and coordinating protests of an incoming business,” says Hall-Harper. This
inside-outside strategy paid off.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><a href="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-15-at-11.40.13-AM.png"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#F47C46;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="500" height="281" style="width:5.2083in;height:2.927in" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image028.jpg@01D4B7D9.6754BD60" alt="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-15-at-11.40.13-AM-1024x575.png"></span></b></a><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Hall-Harper
joins Dollar General protest. Photo Credit: <a href="https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/why-dollar-general-is-putting-grocery-stores-out-of-business/5aab0f9bf1cdb37a1d02d7b3"><b><i><span style="color:#F47C46">Vice News,</span></i></b></a> 2018.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">In late August, just a few days before Labor Day, the City Council finally took up Hall-Harper’s proposed dollar store moratorium. Residents of North Tulsa filled the chambers and one
by one spoke in favor of the measure — a show of support that Hall-Harper says made all the difference. The moratorium passed by a 5-to-4 vote. It suspended the permitting of new “small-box discount stores” for a period of six months in Hall-Harper’s district.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Three months later, Hall-Harper proposed a permanent change to the city’s zoning code. She introduced a <a href="https://ilsr.org/rule/dollar-store-dispersal-restrictions/"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">“dispersal”
ordinance</span></b></a> that would restrict the development of dollar stores in North Tulsa. Intended to foster “greater diversity in retail options and convenient access to fresh meats, fruits and vegetables,” the measure prohibits a dollar store from opening
within one mile of an existing dollar store. It also prioritizes full-service grocery stores by cutting in half the number of parking spaces they are required to have.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">While other cities have adopted <a href="https://ilsr.org/in-jersey-city-a-policy-fosters-local-independent-businesses-and-draws-cvss-ire/"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">more aggressive
limits</span></b></a> on chain retailers, Hall-Harper’s measure was the first to specifically target dollar stores. And in Tulsa, it was a reach. The city has long favored a permissive approach to development, even going so far as to use its powers of eminent
domain to seize land for developers over the objections of residents.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">“I was told, ‘That is illegal, we can’t do that.’ But fortunately, I had done my research,” says Hall-Harper. “Communities have the authority, and in my opinion the responsibility, to
put these policies in place.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">The Tulsa Metro Area Planning Commission opposed the ordinance, voting 7-3 to recommend that the City Council reject it. The city’s daily newspaper, the <em><span style="font-family:"Open Sans",serif">Tulsa
World</span></em>, likewise <a href="https://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/editorials/tulsa-world-editorial-the-north-tulsa-dollar-store-spacing-requirement/article_aeb31e10-0f7f-517d-8ce2-e721621d2125.html"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">editorialized against
it</span></b></a>, writing that the measure would “put government-enforced restrictions on where north Tulsans can do business and get jobs.” The paper added: “We prefer incentives to encourage development to restraints to prevent it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">“We kept pushing,” says Hall-Harper of the neighborhood’s campaign. That pushing paid off. In April 2018, Tulsa’s Healthy Neighborhood Overlay ordinance passed the City Council on a
5-2 vote and was signed by the mayor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Now Hall-Harper and the community’s organizing is paying off in another way. “We’ll [soon] have a groundbreaking of a new grocery store,” she explains.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">That new store is being developed through a project led by the <a href="http://tedcnet.com/index.php"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">Tulsa Economic Development Corporation (TEDC)</span></b></a> in
partnership with the City of Tulsa. Aiming to “eliminate food deserts in Tulsa’s most distressed communities,” TEDC has raised $3 million from federal block grants and other sources to build a 15,000-square-foot grocery store in North Tulsa.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">TEDC is in the process of identifying an operator that will own and operate the new store and lease the TEDC-owned building being constructed for the project. “Our number one [criteria]
is that they have a passion for what we’re doing,” explained Kim Prince, TEDC’s Operations Associate. TEDC is a nonprofit community development financial institution that seeks to create “economic vitality in communities by encouraging small business growth.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Once a store operator is selected in early 2019, construction of the store will begin, with the aim of opening by the end of the year. A local architecture firm is already drawing up
designs for the building, based on input from residents. “The community wants an aesthetically pleasing store, something they can take ownership of,” explains Hall-Harper.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">For Hall-Harper, though, this single victory is just the first step. “One grocery store isn’t enough,” she points out. There is no shortage of ideas, from helping local entrepreneurs
open food stores to supporting new models like <a href="https://www.fox23.com/news/company-says-mobile-grocery-trucks-could-bring-new-food-options-to-north-tulsa/750613170"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">mobile grocery trucks</span></b></a>. “Reaching every
citizen is how I’ll know we were successful,” she says.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">That long-term vision, though, hinges on the ability of new food stores to carve out enough market share to survive, and that’s far from guaranteed. “The proliferation of dollar stores
certainly has made that a challenge to overcome,” says Hall-Harper.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:25.5pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<strong><span style="font-family:"Roboto Slab",serif;color:#004A6E">How Communities Can Check the Growth of Dollar Stores</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Roboto Slab",serif;color:#004A6E;font-weight:normal"><o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">The dollar chains have been able to multiply virtually unimpeded because most communities have relatively lax planning and zoning policies. Even in Vermont, where big-box retailers must
navigate a thicket of environmental and land use policies, dollar stores, by virtue of being relatively small in size, rarely face permitting hurdles or scrutiny by planning boards under current policies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">As the story of Tulsa illustrates, some communities are beginning to correct this. In addition to limiting the density of dollar stores, as Tulsa did, another option for cities is to
adopt a <a href="https://ilsr.org/rule/formula-business-restrictions/"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">policy that restricts “formula” businesses</span></b></a> — those that follow a cookie-cutter format. Used in dozens of small towns and cities, including
San Francisco and Jersey City, N.J., formula businesses policies offer a way to limit chain stores or require that they meet certain conditions to open. These measures typically cover all types of retailers, including dollar stores.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Motivated in part by increased development pressure from dollar stores, <a href="https://ilsr.org/rule/formula-business-restrictions/formula-business-restriction-mendocino-county-ca/"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">Mendocino
County, Calif.</span></b></a>, passed a formula business policy in 2016. The measure, which covers unincorporated areas of the county that are outside municipal boundaries, requires chain stores to seek a special permit in order to open. The permit application
involves a public hearing, and county staff then review the application based on whether the proposed formula business would fit the community’s character. The idea is not to stop all development, but to establish a process for weighing the merits of particular
projects.<strong><span style="font-family:"Open Sans",serif"> </span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">“Be ready to have to do your own research,” Vanessa Hall-Harper advises local leaders and residents who want to take on dollar stores. “Having examples [of policies passed by other cities]
keeps you as an elected official encouraged that this work is possible, even when you’re up against opposition from the powers that be.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Another key to winning, Hall-Harper says, is community engagement. “I honestly believe we wouldn’t have been successful if the community didn’t come out,” she notes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><a href="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/BWST-2017-Dollar-General-Protest.jpg"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#F47C46;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="614" height="318" style="width:6.3958in;height:3.3125in" id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image018.jpg@01D4B7D7.65943390" alt="https://ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/BWST-2017-Dollar-General-Protest.jpg"></span></b></a><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Residents
protest dollar store development in North Tulsa, Okla. Photo Credit: <a href="https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2017/11/11/dg-representatives-interrupt-church-worship-service-demanding-that-the-anti-dollar-general-store-sign-come-down%E2%80%8B/"><b><i><span style="color:#F47C46">Black
Wall Street Times</span></i></b></a>, 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Already some cities are moving to replicate Tulsa’s success. In Mesquite, Texas, which saw 15 new dollar stores built over the course of a decade, the city consulted with Hall-Harper
and ultimately passed a <a href="http://www.fox4news.com/news/new-mesquite-ordinance-will-limit-number-of-dollar-stores"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">similar dollar store “dispersal” ordinance</span></b></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">In New Orleans, several city council members have recognized dollar stores as a problem. Similar to Tulsa, they’ve seen these stores concentrate in particular neighborhoods. In 2018,
New Orleans City Council <a href="https://www.nola.gov/nola/media/City-Planning/Motion-M-18-256.pdf"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">passed a motion</span></b></a> directing the city’s planning commission to conduct a study to help “classify, define and regulate”
dollar stores. Along with a draft of the “<a href="https://www.nola.gov/nola/media/City-Planning/SBRD-Draft-Report-12-11.pdf"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">Small Box Retail Diversity Study</span></b></a>,” which was released in November, the commission has
scheduled public hearings and invited public comments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Cities and states can also take steps to actively support the development of local grocery stores, just as Tulsa is doing with Honor Capital. One of the biggest barriers entrepreneurs
face in starting new grocery stores is securing a business loan. The <a href="https://ilsr.org/rule/financing-local-businesses/3005-2/"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative</span></b></a> has shown how to solve this problem.
Through loans made over the course of about a decade, it has facilitated the opening and expansion of more than 80 local food stores in underserved cities and towns across the state.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">As these policy examples illustrate, communities are not at the mercy of the dollar chains and their plans to blanket both rural and urban America with thousands of new stores. By blocking
the spread of dollar stores and fostering the growth of local grocers, cities and towns can begin to close the gap in access to fresh food while also building local power and opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<em><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">If you liked this post, be sure to sign up for the monthly <a href="https://ilsr.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ebfe77c732e7192553aef5712&id=5c034248dd"><b><span style="color:#F47C46">Hometown
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<em><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444">Update: This story has been updated to reflect new information about the grocery store being developed in North Tulsa and add additional details about Dollar Tree’s acquisition of
Family Dollar.</span></em><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Open Sans",serif;color:#444444"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Myriad Pro",sans-serif">Kelli S. Yadon<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Myriad Pro",sans-serif">Oklahoma Main Street Center<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Myriad Pro",sans-serif">900 N. Stiles Ave.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Myriad Pro",sans-serif">Oklahoma City, OK 73104<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Myriad Pro",sans-serif">c: 405.778.9375<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Myriad Pro",sans-serif">o: 405.815.5379<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Myriad Pro",sans-serif">800.879.6552 (toll-free)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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