Huffington Magazine Issue 69 | Page 45

JOIN THE BOOMING DOLLAR-STORE ECONOMY! now approaching 25,000 nationally, according to the brokerage firm Sterne Agee. Such stores are much smaller than a Walmart — about 8,000 square feet, compared with the 182,000 of a typical Supercenter — but they’re also becoming far more accessible to U.S. shoppers than the nation’s top retailer. There are now approximately five dollar stores in HUFFINGTON 10.06.13 Much of the industry’s growth has come courtesy of the Great Recession. As the worst downturn in a generation settled in, shoppers increasingly looked for bargain bins close to home, steering them to the discount detergent, toilet paper and other so-called consumables that Dollar General and its competitors thrive on. Many of the new shoppers “Psychologically, they get you to believe that you are actually a manager... But we’re stock people.” the U.S. for every Walmart. Dollar General, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree are on pace to open one new store every six hours this year, according to Sterne Agee’s analysis, and they now employ more th [